What Was That For?
by Plasma Night Fury
Summary: The village of Berk has never been happier with the dragons. They used to be pests, now Vikings and dragons are family. It has been four years since that, but a new threat has come. Will Hiccup choose to save the ones he loves or save himself? Also, will Hiccup and Astrid get their happily ever after and become a family? Find out!
1. Surprise Attacks!

After six hours of restless sleep, the sound of something on the roof of his house woke the boy up. He sat up straight, quickly, and looked around the room, rubbing his eyes. His hair stuck out in many different ways, falling into his eyes. It had been a while since he cut it, so it was reaching just beneath his jawline. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck while he stretched. The banging sound on the roof continued. He rolled his eyes and flipped his thin blanket off of him, sliding his feet to the side of the bed and standing. He stumbled forward, catching himself by grabbing the side of his desk near his bed. He groaned, looking down at his feet. He smiled.

Foot.

He had to get used to his prosthetic leg, even if it bugged him a lot. It had been four years since he got it, and he still wouldn't accept it as part of him. He still thought it was just another chunk of bent metal attached to a piece of wood to his leg. But deep down he knew that his leg would never be coming back. The problem was, he was the only one who truly knew the reasons it was gone. Everyone thought it was the accident that caused it, maybe it was caught on something. But the boy knew that what took his leg, saved his life.

Another sound bang came from the roof and the boy groaned. He stepped over to his drawers and pulled out a forest green tunic and a leather belt strap. He had fallen asleep without a shirt on last night, so that might have explained why he was so cold. After the tunic was on, he grabbed a leather vest and pulled it over his head as he walked to the door of his room. His father had already gotten up, and was probably somewhere in the village doing chiefly things, since he was the chief.

The boy grunted as he stood at the door, pulling down his armour from the hook beside the door. He slid his arms through the two shoulder pads and popped his head through the top hole. He reached in front of him and tightened the buckles at the front of his armour. His hand touched the door nob, and he swung the door open, stalking happily outside with his helmet under his arm. He looked around, his house had the best view of the village, so it was easy to tell where everyone was. Especially of he was looking for someone big.

The bang on the roof came again.

"Right." He mumbled to himself and rolled his eyes, turning around to look at the roof. Nothing was there at the front, so he stepped to the side of the house, and sure enough, he found what he was looking for. "There you are, bud." He said, staring up at the roof. A large, black Night Fury dragon jumped off of the roof and stood in front of his, panting like a dog. Around the Night Fury's neck at the top of his spine was a saddle, the one the boy had made.

The Nught Fury growled happily, leaping forward and jumping onto the boy, he licked his face with a big, sloppy, slimy tongue.

"Hey!" The boy yelled as he laughed, pushing the dragon off of him. "We don't have time for this now, okay?" He grabbed the saddle on the dragon to help him stand up, he swung his leg over the dragon, sitting into the saddle. His prosthetic leg clicked into place in the stirrup, his other foot sliding into its pouch on the other side. "Ready?" The boy looked down at his helmet, throwing it to the side. "I think we'll go for a leisure ride this morning." He leaned forward and clicked his prosthetic foot backwards, opening the dragon's prosthetic tail into the take off position. "Go!" He yelled.

The dragon jumped up into the air, spreading it's wings and flapping them. The two soared into the morning sky, lightly flying over Berk. The Night Fury turned around and began a slow spiral down to the village centre. The boy caught a glimpse of another dragon, standing by a house. He knew who's house that was, and he saw one of the inhabitants standing by the dragon. It was a Deadly Nadder. The long tail spikes swirled slowly on the tail as the dragon wagged it.

"Hey!" Hiccup said as he landed with the Night Fury near the house. "You stay here, Toothless." The boy said to the dragon as he walked away to the other person and the Deadly Nadder. "Hey!" He said again, running a hand through his messy hair as he walked towards the two.

"Hiccup?" A voice said from behind the Deadly Nadder. The boy smiled at the sound of his name coming from the persons lips.

"Yeah, it's me." Hiccup said, leaning his weight to one side and crossing his arms across his chest. He grinned, tilting his head. "You gonna show yourself?" He laughed quietly.

"Yeah, sorry." The voice came again. "I was just cleaning Stormfly's tail." Hiccup saw a hand slide down across the tail of the Deadly Nadder dragon. Just then, the hand disappeared and the sound of soft footsteps began to come around the large, yellow and blue dragon. The footsteps stopped as a girl turned around from the back of the dragon. She had blonde hair that was done in a not-very-nicely-done braid down her left shoulder. It almost seemed like she knotted it all the way down. Her bangs hung slightly swooped to the left over the left side of her forehead, covering one blue eye. Right underneath her bangs was a leather band that wrapped all the way around her head. Her eyes seemed to sparkle in the sunlight, making Hiccup sigh.

"Hello, Astrid." Hiccup said quietly, hardly audible to Astrid. She smiled and rolled her eyes walking over to him. She wore a very tight, red shirt that seemed to be just many red ribbons wrapped around her body. Her skirt was made from a layer of a yak hide and over top of that were many strips of oeather, covered in metal spikes. A short, fur cape draped around her shoulders and was attached between her collarbones with two leather straps and a metal circle with a small carved skull in the middle. At this moment she was not wearing her metal shoulder pads, but she was wearing her coiled, leather arm bands that reached from her elbow to her wrist.

"Hiccup, don't blush in front of me." Hiccup heard Astrid speak as she stood at least an inch from him. He hadn't realized he had blushed, but he guessed that thinking about Astrid made him blush. She swung her fist hitting him in the arm. He groaned and grabbed his arm.

"Ow!" He said, smiling down at her. "What was that for?" He rubbed his arm, looking back at her.

"That was for old times sake." She said, grinning as Hiccup frowned, very confused.

He had grown quite a bit in four years, so he was taller than Astrid now. She looked up at him through her thick eyelashes and grabbed the front of his armour. She stood on her tiptoes and yanked his head down to hers, pressing her lips to his, instantly pulling away. Hiccup had a small smile forming at the corners of his mouth as she pulled away, her hand still gripping his armour. She curved her eyebrows inwards as she smiled at him.

"And that was for everything else." Hiccup shook his head at her as she stepped away from him, blowing him a kiss. She began to walk back over to Stromfly when something dark caught Hiccups eye. A black figure sprang for Astrid, knocking her over. Hiccup heard her scream as the thing appeared to be a dragon.

A Night Fury.

"Toothless!" Hiccup ran over to the dragon and pulled him off of Astrid. Astrid's eyes widened as she sat up, gasping for air. Toothless growled low from the throat, staring at Astrid. "Are you okay?" Hiccup pushed Toothless backwards, rushing to Astrid. The Night Fury continued to growl. Astrid coughed and grabbed her chest with her hand as Hiccup sat beside her, holding her.

"Yeah, I-," she coughed again. "I'm fine. Lost my breath. Just help me get up." She reached up and wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck, groaning as he helped her stand, but right as she stood, she fell onto her knees. "Ankle." She muttered under her breath, loud enought for Hiccup to hear her.

"Astrid, I'm so sorry." He said, helping her up again so she leaned onto him.

"No, he's just acting like an overprotective girlfriend." She said, groaning as she limped along with Hiccup. He frowned as he saw the pain she was in.

"Here." Hiccup said as he reached his arms underneath Astrid's knees. He swung her up so he was holding her bridal style as they walked down to Hiccup's house.

Astrid leaned her head against Hiccup's shoulder, "Thanks. But we could have just gone into my house." She sighs.

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes. "Because everyone knows that your parents have good medication in their house." They both giggled, making Astrid blush. "They would have given you a glass of goat milk and said, 'This stuff is from the mountain of Globerdoff! It'll make ya better in no time!'" He said, mimicking the strange accent that every parent had. Astrid wanted to punch him, but when she was like this, she didn't dare.

"That's a great way to get a girl to like you." A voice came from beside them, they both turned their heads. A boy stood there, leaning against a house. The smirk on his face was devilish.

"Go away, Snotlout." Hiccup frowned at the boy. He had been trying to get Astrid to like him for years, and he envied Hiccup because he liked her too. Even if everyone in the village knew that the chief's son was in love with Astrid Hofferson.

"Yeah," Snotlout said, ignoring Hiccup's words. "Getting your Night Fury to attack a girl is definitely gonna get her to like you." He walked over to them, staring at Astrid in his arms. He smiled at her. "Hey babe, what's goin' on?" He said, brushing his hair out of his face. Astrid looked away from him, nudging her face into Hiccup's shoulder. Snotlout grunted and rolled his eyes.

"Go away." Astrid muttered angrily to Snotlout into Hiccup's shirt. Snotlout stepped closer to Astrid and Hiccup, he didn't seem his normal self today, he had never actually tried to get near to Astrid, only persuade her creepily to get near to him.

"Why would I do that?" He reached his hand out to touch her but Hiccup moved away.

"Snotlout, what's gotten into you." Hiccup stared at Snotlout, his eyes seemed to be glowing, but Hiccup stared at them. They were glowing, and Hiccup knew it had something to do with his behaviour. Then he saw something else, on the side of his neck. There were two puncture marks. "We're leaving. See you at lunch." He quickly walked away from the smirking Snotlout, Astrid in his arms.

"What was that about?" Astrid muttered as they reached Hiccup's house. "Was he okay?" Hiccup didn't know what to say, so he told her the truth.

"His eyes were glowing and there were puncture marks on his neck." He nudged open the door to his house and walked in, the door closing behind him as he set Astrid down. They both walked over to the nearest bed, which was Hiccup's. Astrid sat up against the wall, sitting on the bed. Her foot was aching badly now.

"So?" She began. "What do you think might have happened?" She asked Hiccup.

"I'm not sure," Hiccup walked over to the kitchen, his prosthetic foot clumping along.

"But I think it might be dragon related. I remember something from the Book of Dragons. It said something about hypnotizing it's victims."

"Changewing." Astrid said, Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks as he began to return to Astrid with a small brick of ice.

"A Changewing?" He said, shaking his head and walking over to place the ice at Astrid's foot. He looked up at her. "What would a Changewing want with Snotlout?"

"Don't ask me!" Astrid frowned, looking at Hiccup. "Thank you." She whispered as he stood up from her foot. He looked down at her as she looked up at him, smiling.

"What?" He asked, giggling lightly. She continued to stare at him. "What's wrong?" He said again, shrugging.

"Nothings's wrong." Astrid retorted, making Hiccup's eyes widen. She then let her head fall backwards, leaning it against the wall and closing her eyes.

"Hey." Hiccup moved over to pull up a chair beside the bed, he looked at her questioningly. "Look at me." He said softly. She opened her eyes and let her head fall to the side, looking at Hiccup loosely.

"Yesterday I saw Snotlout walking back from the forest, he didn't have Hookfang with him." She closed her eyes again. "I asked him if he was okay, and" Hiccup began, but he was cut off by Astrid pulling him towards her. She had always been stronger than him, but he had grown. But she could still push him around. As she pulled him down, he braced himself on the bed with his hands, it was lucky he had both, because he would have crushed her. He stared down at her as she placed both hands around his neck, pulling him down to her. As his lips touched hers, Astrid felt herself completely melt. Hiccup placed a hand on her side as she continued to kiss him.

The door to the house bursted open.

"Hiccup!" A booming voice rung through the room, making Astrid quickly let go of Hiccup's neck and Hiccup fall backwards. Astrid instantly let her head fall back onto the wall. "Boy! Where are you!" The sound of the chief's voice made Hiccup stand up straight. He rushed to his dad and stood in front of him.

"Yeah dad?" Hiccup said in his normal, childish voice, althought it had gotten lower in the past four years. A large hand came down on his shoulder, almost knocking him off balance. The chief, his dad, laughed.

"I was just makin' sure ya was here, boy." Stoick stumbled his way over to the kitchen, sitting down in his large, wooden seat.

"So, uh, dad." Hiccup began, looking over at Astrid as his dad let out a large, long burp. When he was finished, Hiccup sighed, crunching his eyes closed as his fists tightened. He stifled a gag at the smell but still continued. "Dad, we have company." He pointed to Astrid, who was blushing fiercely, and lowered his head. Stoick instantly went red aswell, his eyes wide. He scratched the back of his head.

"Well, uh, I didn't, well," he stammered. He sighed, looking over at Astrid lying down in Hiccup's bed. "Astrid, dear. How are ya this fine mornin'?" He asked her, slightly blushing.

"I'm well, chief." She said quietly as she smiled, her eyes drifted to Hiccup, who, in fact, was staring at her the whole time. When their eyes met, they both looked back to Stoick.

"Astrid, call me Stoick, it'd be better like that." He smiled at her as she nodded.

"Sure thing, Stoick." Just as she said that, a knock came at the door.

"Stoick! We need ya here out in the village square!" The voice was unmistakably Gobber's. Stoick was up like a flash, and out of the house in the same amount of time, without a word. Hiccup scratched the back of his neck, turning to Astrid.

"What was that about?" He said, smiling his odd smile that also made Astrid's heart melt. He walked back over to her, his prosthetic leg squeaking as he did. When he sat down at the end of the bed, he sighed when he saw the stain of water near Astrid's foot.

"What was what about?" Astrid shifted to a more comfortable position, leaning forward and looking up at Hiccup with her big, blue eyes.

"You know, uh," Hiccup stuttered, running his fingers through his hair. "before my dad barged in?" He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Astrid said sarcastically, grinning as she shrugged.

"You kissed me, and there was no punching me before it," he swung his fist in front of him, trying to mimick the way she punches him in the shoulder. "or telling me what it was for."

Astrid smiled and giggled, sighing as she shook her head. "You mean like this?" Before Hiccup could even answer, Astrid grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled her mouth to his, making Hiccup's eyes widen. Even if Astrid's eyes were closed, she could still sense that Hiccup was surprised. "Surprise!" She said, pulling away and shaking her hands beside her head. Hiccup bowed his head, shaking it, and smiled.

"I don't know if I would just call that a surprise, maybe a surprise attack." He said, still looking at the floor. He tapped his good foot on the wooden boards. The room went silent as Hiccup's cheeks went red.

"Don't you have something to do?" Astrid said, breaking the silence as she poked his arm. Hiccup's head instantly shot upwards, looking at her.

"What? Oh! Yeah, uh, I'd better get going, uh, I'll," he stood up, walking backwards to the door. "be back, you stay here, okay?" He smiled as he opened the door, standing by it as Astrid waved at him. When he shut it behind him, he sighed, leaning against the wooden frame. "Good gods, Hiccup, get it together." He said, mentally punching himself as he walked away, heading off towards Snotlout's house. He needed to figure out why that other boy was acting weird earlier, for he knew that it was anything but good. Changwings are good at hiding, but they haven't been spotted on Berk since three years ago. That was when Hiccup and the gang had their first encounter with a Changewing, and also learned that their eggs aren't good fortune rocks.


	2. A Broken Deal

Hiccup's fist banged on the door to the Jorgenson's house. He had tried several times to knock, hoping Snotlout would be there, and had failed to get an answer. He knew that his parents were somewhere else at the moment but couldn't bring himself to go ask them, so he decided to head back to his own house, to see how Astrid was doing.

"Astrid, I'm back!" He said as he swung the door open, but there was no answer, not even an intake of breath as he closed the door behind him. "Lazy." He muttered as he headed over to his bed, but what he found astounded him. Astrid was not in the bed, bur something else was. A slip of paper rolled up like a scroll lay beside the water on the end of the bed, so he decided to pick it up. Hiccup had a feeling that this note was not written by Astrid, because he did not have the type of paper in his house that the scroll was made of. He decided to read it anyways.

"What?" He muttered to myself after he finished the letter. "No." He whispered. He dropped the paper on the wooden ground and ran as fast as he could out of the house, looking for Toothless. The last time he saw him, he had stayed at the place where he attacked Astrid. But he needed to find the Night Fury to keep him safe.

The letter was not a nice letter, it had read:

_ To the Dragon Conqueror,  
Your beloved friend is being held captive for a reason. If you do not deliver the Night Fury along with yourself by sunset, she will be killed. The place you need to go to is not Berk, it is not close to Berk, so I would go quickly if you want to save her. Go to Dragon Island and find us, give us the Night Fury and yourself and we will send her back to Berk on a ship. Come alone, or we will destroy everything you've ever loved. Remember, by sunset, or she dies.  
Do not underestimate me, there will be consequences_.

When Hiccup reached the area just outside of Astrid's house, he saw Stormfly and Toothless hissing and growling at eachother. He ran to the two dragons and yelled.  
"Stop it!" He pushed Toothless away from Stormfly, both of the dragons still growling deep in their throats. "Toothless! I need your help, bud." He stared at the Night Fury, not wanting to give him up, but knowing he had to. "We need to go to Dragon Island, Astrid was kidnapped." He places his false foot into the stirrup and swings himself onto Toothless, his jaw dropping open as he saw what was in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going, Hiccup?" The twins stood in front of him, smiling their awkward smiles as Ruffnut punched Tuffnut. "Ouch! Why'd ya do that?" Tuffnut whined as he stood back up. Ruffnut laughed.

"I dunno." She shrugged, turning back to Hiccup. "What's the hurry, Hic?" She leaned her weight onto one side, crossing her arms. Her brother stood there, staring at Hiccup.  
"One, don't call me Hic. Two, it's none of your business." He steadied himself, getting ready to fly. But the twins were already smirking as their Zippleback came up behind them, picking them up onto it's head.

"One," Tuffnut mocked Hiccup. "We're coming with you to find Astrid." Hiccup was shocked.

"How do you–" he began, but Ruffnut was already speaking.

"We saw you run out of your house so we went into your house and stole this." She held up the scroll in her right hand, waving it over her head.

"Well, I have to go alone anyways." He clicked Toothless' tail into the takeoff position and the Night Fury flapped it's wings, soaring upwards. "Ill see you guys later!" He yelled back. "Wait," he said to himself quietly. "No I won't!" And with that, he took off towards Dragon Island.

The clouds were thicker today, and the sun was nowhere to be seen. Toothless kept growling every time they went through a thick cloud, probably getting ready if there were to be any danger. He had thrown a few Atlantic cod in the sack on Toothless' side just incase the dragon got hungry, and he didn't want a hungry, andgry Night Fury.

Suddenly, Toothless growled, and they weren't even in any clouds, not even a light one. But the Night Fury was growling and looking around at the clouds around them.

"Toothless," Hiccup patted the dragon's head, clicking his left foot into a position so that he could go down a bit more. They shot down and then Toothless widened his wings, soaring slowly. "Toothless, faster please." Just then, a green figure moved slowly beside them, hovering through the clouds. A laugh was heard from the green blotch and Hiccup frowned. "Ruff! Tuff! I told you not to come!" The Zippleback emerged from the grey cloud and the twins laughed.

"Yeah," Ruffnut began. "But I thoughts you could use some backup." She smiled and cackled to herself. Tuffnut hung upside down on the head of his dragon.

"Ha! Look at me!" The Zippleback swung it's head quickly from side to side, Tuffnut wobbling and dangling from it. "This is–!" He began, but a giant, black rock sprung up from the clouds and knocked the Zippleback down, making it spiral downwards into the water with a splash. Hiccup rolled his eyes and averted his sight to in front of him. Toothless was still growling.

"Well," he sighed. "I think we're here." He saw the rocky beach where he daughter the Red Death and they landed softly onto it. Hiccup jumped off of Toothless and landed on the rocks and small pebbles. His metal leg wobbled awkwardly as he tried to walk on the unstable ground. "Hello?" He said in his normal voice, walking further inland on the beach. Toothless closely followed him, his wings spread, his eyes like cat's, his tail raised, and his mouth open, growling. They reached the giant hole where the Red Death had emerged from and Hiccup stepped into it, standing just at the edge. It was as dark as last time, maybe even darker, but there was something that made Hiccup uneasy about it. "Toothless, Plasma Blast." He said, leaning into the hole to see as a loud sound rumbled through the island. A large, purple blast shot through the hole, making it brighter for a second. There was just black rock and broken stone through the tunnel, and something else that caught Hiccup's eye.

He grabbed a small branch from the ground and shoved it towards Toothless. "Toothless, fire." He said, right before the Night Fury shot a Plasma Blast towards the branch. The branch caught fire, creating light as Hiccup entered the tunnel of rock, illuminating the thing that caught his eye. "What?" Hiccup stood before a large, wooden door, gawking at it. He reached out, looking over to Toothless, who was sitting like a human and panting, and closed his eyes. He leaned forward as his hand pushed the door open, it swung open quickly, making Hiccup stumble forward and hit the ground. But there was no ground for him to hit, so he fell forward into the darkness of the hole in the earth. He screamed as he dropped the torch, not before it burnt his right arm along the outside of it.

The screech of a Night Fury surrounded him as he fell further and further into the never ending black hole in the earth. Hiccup spun in the air and he slammed into the hard, rocky wall. He felt a sharp pain in his side and then felt something quickly brush against his right leg. It seemed to have happened in less than a split second, but Hiccup found himself falling onto the back of the Night Fury. The impact was hard, but he only lost his breath. By the time Toothless had brought him down safely to the bottom of the endless pit, he could feel the searing pain rising up in his arm.

"Ah!" Hiccup fell to the ground while getting off of Toothless, histoire hand across his stomach. He looked around, but couldn't see anything, not even his own arm. But all he felt was the wetness on his hand as he pulled it away from his side.

A low growl sounded beside his ear. Reaching his clean hand to the place where the sound came from, he felt a soft, scaly surface. "Toothless." He sighed. "Thanks, bud." He stood up and looked around, there was nothing to be seen in the darkness. He felt a nudge on his right leg, it was Toothless. "What?" He said as the Night Fury kept poking his nose at his leg. When the dragon stopped, Hiccup found himself being tripped by the Night Fury, falling onto his back.

A sharp pain rushed through his side as he fell, he cursed. "Toothless, wha–?" Before he could continue, he realized what his friend was trying to say. "Night Furies have night vision. Right." He slid onto Toothless' back and settled into the saddle. He still held his side as Toothless began to walk slowly forward, into the darkness of the hole in the earth.  
"Toothless, what are you doing." Hiccup whispered as he felt the Night Fury stop in it's tracks after around ten minutes of walking. The deep growl rumbled in the dragon's throat as he stepped back. "Toothless, bud, what's going on?" Hiccup patted his friend's head and he suddenly felt a sudden shudder as the Night Fury sent a Plasma Blast through the darkness. "Who–ah!" Hiccup gripped the saddle tighter as the darkness of the cavern lit up in an eerie purple light. Suddenly, he could see why the dragon had stopped. The Plasma Blast had hit the man-made, wooden, dead end wall not ten meters in front of them, just missing the chair that sat before the wall.

Toothless growled again, bearing his teeth as his eyes turned to slits.

"What is this?" Hiccup said as he slid off of the dragon's saddle. He began to slowly walk forward, he could see now that the wall was burning slightly where Toothless had hit it. But the chair in front of him was what made him gasp. He stepped closer to the chair.  
There was something beside it.

Astrid's leather hair band.

Hiccup rushed forward and knelt down, picking up the leather strap in his clean hand. He looked it over carefully, there was something on it.

Hiccup dropped it once he realized what it was.

Blood.

"Toothless." He gasped, turning to his dragon. "I brought you here before sunset, I–" he turned and threw the leather band across the cavern, making it hit the rock wall across from him. He turned back to Toothless. "I'm here. So where is she. She should have been safe! By the gods! I should have known this was a trick!" He shouted and kicked the chair with his right foot, sending it skidding across the floor and hitting the burning, wooden wall. He slumped down against the wall and put his face into his hands, he sighed. "I'm sorry, Astrid." Hiccup muttered under his breath as he sat against the wall, breathing lightly.

"Sorry for what?" A voice came from behind Hiccup. He shot upwards, standing up again, and stared at the wall. The voice had to come from behind it. He looked back to Toothless, who was growling once again.

"Toothless, Plasma Blast, again." He moved out of the way of the wall, pulling his dagger out of it's pouch at his side. As he pulled at it, he winced as pain spiked through his side. "Ah." He groaned. Toothless growled and then a purple blast hit the wood, burning it more. The wall suddenly collapsed in a pile of broken and burnt wood. It rumbled and then the ashes sot up, surround the Night Fury and the boy. Hiccup began to cough and tried to swat away the ashes from his face. Toothless just hissed.

"I asked you a question, boy. Will you answer it?" The voice came again, once the ashes settled, Hiccup could see a large, dark silhouette. It seemed to be coming towards them, the silhouette, because it kept getting slightly bigger every time Hiccup heard the tap of a boot.

"Who are you?" Hiccup said sternly, gripping his dagger tightly as he readied his stance. Whoever this was, wanted something to do with Toothless and Hiccup, and Hiccup did not want to loose Toothless.

"Well, why would you want to know that?" The figure stepped out of the shadowy ashes and stared at Hiccup, a smile strewn across her face in an eerie way. It was a girl. Not just any girl, this girl was seemingly young, older than Hiccup, but young. She sighed, rolling her eyes and shifted her weight to one side. "My name is Erica the Flawless." She smiled at Hiccup.

"Well, that's not a very scary name, is it?" Hiccup grinned, knowing that this wasn't a time to be sarcastic, but he couldn't hold it back. Erica looked at him.

"It's means noble, forever strong. But I see that you have brought yourself to me." She looked around. "Where's the Night Fury." She scowled. "I told you to bring the Night Fury, or–"

"Or you'll kill Astrid. I know." Hiccup interrupted her, putting his hand out as if to stop her. "But he's here alright." He crossed his arms, still holding the dagger, but a shot of pain from his side ran through him, making him wince. Erica shot her eyes around the dark room.

"Where!" She shouted, just before a ball of purple fire shot at her. She ducked and it flew through the dark tunnel behind her. Hiccup hadn't realized she had brought a torch along with her.

"Found him." Hiccup said, grinning as Toothless came up beside him, growling and bearing his teeth. Erica stood up and stared at the both of them.

"If you kill me, she, Astrid, dies." She scowled and brushed her brown hair of her face. Toothless looked up at Hiccup when Erica said Astrid's name, knowing that they had to save her. Hiccup placed a hand on the dragon's neck.

"We'll come with you, take us, just leave Atsrid alone." He said, knowing that that was the deal. If he came here with Toothless, Astrid would be freed. Erica snickered and grinned.  
"Of course, come with me." She began to walk back into the dark tunnel, carying the torch along with her. Toothless growled but then Hiccup pulled at his saddle, making him come along with him and follow Erica.

"Where are you taking us?" Hiccup sighed after they had been winding through the tunnel for around five minutes. He could only hear the quiet patter of water dripping, the soft thud of their boots and Toothless' paws, and the squeak of his prosthetic leg. He wiped a strand of long hair off of his forehead as Erica stopped.

"Here." She slammed her shoulder into a large, steel door, swinging it open. As it did, she stumbled inside, followed by Hiccup and the Night Fury. "This way." She said as she stood before an even bigger door, this one was made of steel also, but it seemed to be thicker, almost unbreakable. The window was made of steel bars, not even wide enough for a Terror to crawl through. Toothless' throat made a low grumbling sound as Erica placed her hand on a large, wooden lever. The end of it was coated with metal and carved with small dragon figures, Hiccup sighed as he saw the beauty in the work, then he remembered where he was.

"What are you doing." He stared at Erica as she pulled the lever down, it seemed to be hard to pull, as she had to hang on it to get it to move down. She was a small girl, but still had that beefy Viking body. Hiccup found it somewhat bizarre. The large door groaned as it began to move up, it disappeared into the rock above as it slid open. It revealed a room made completely of stone and metal walls. In the were carved the pictures of tiny, silvery dragons. Hiccup stepped into the room, Toothless staying close by his side. There were larger carvings of dragons here and there, and Hiccup realized that they were implanted with metal. "This is amazing." He said, walking farther into the room, the Night Fury was still close by him. Half of the room he couldn't see because it was too dark, so he didn't bother walking over there. But Toothless nudged him in the leg after he looked into the darker spot. Hiccup heard the groan of the door once again, and turned around.

Erica had shut the door.

Hiccup ran to the beastly metal door, grabbing onto the bars and staring at the young woman through them.

"What are you doing!" He said to her, astonished. She just smiled and looked back at him, she walked to the bars, just out of his reach.

"I need you to stay here until I'm ready for you." She grinned, flashing her white teeth. Her hand went to the lever, pulling the wooden stick out of the slot it was in, so that no one could open the door without it.

"Ready for what!" Hiccup yelled this time, gripping the bars tighter. He winced as he felt pain in his side again, he fell to the ground. Toothless was right behind him, so he growled and pounce at the door, trying to reach his large paw through the bars, but it was no use.

"Astrid." He said roughly as Astrid opened her eyes.


	3. Love Can Bring Back Anyone

"Hiccup." Astrid said weakly as she coughed. Her whole body shuddered as she lay in his arms. Her blue eyes had turned a greyish colour and her face was pale. Hiccup sighed and helped her sit up against him, so that she was more comfortable.

"Astrid, what happened." He held her tightly to his chest as he felt her breath. Toothless was sitting like a human once more as he watched the two huddled together before him. The room was growing colder by the moment, so Toothless sat close by them, trying to contribute some of his body heat. Astrid's eyes fluttered as she shifted in Hiccup's arms. Her grey-blue eyes stared up at him, larger than ever. Her hand reached up to touch his shoulder, as if to say something, but she could speak anyways.

"Erica is doing something with dragon venom." She wheezed weakly, coughing after she got the words out of her mouth. Her head leaned against Hiccup's shoulder, sighing as she tries to stay awake.

"I know its hard for you to stay awake, but I need you to tell me what she is doing." Hiccup moved his hand up to Astrid's face, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her right eye. He knew she always liked having her bangs in front of her left eye, not that she could care about that right now. Astrid breathed shakily as she began to speak.

"She is combining different dragon venoms, I-I'm not sure which ones," Astrid breathed deeply as she finished the sentence. Her eyes lifted to look into Hiccup's, making him sigh as he saw that the faint grey was taking over the beautiful blue they were before. "But I know that the result of all of them together can make someone see enemies as friends, and friends as enemies." Her hands wrapped around Hiccup's neck as she spoke her next words. "She is going to give you, and the dragons we've trained, the mixture." Hiccup sighed, cupping Astrid's cheek with his hand.

"I won't let her, if I can train a Night Fury, I can defeat her." He leaned down and kissed her forehead, feeling her cold skin against his lips. It made him shiver. "You're freezing, Astrid." Hiccup turned to Toothless as the dragon came closer, spreading his wings and enclosing them in a warmer circle as he spits a fiery circle around them. Astrid smiled as the warmth reached her.

Her smile faded when she caught onto what Hiccup said. "No," she began. "you don't understand, Hiccup, she's too powerful. She has all of the most dangerous dragons on her side." Her hand slid down to Hiccups chest. Hiccup sighed.

"Astrid, I need to find a way to get out of here. Or else she'll kill you, and then I'll have nothing to fight for." His hand brought Astrid's face close to his, so that her forehead was leaning against his. "I love you, Astrid, and I can't lose you." Astrid breathed outwards at the words Hiccup just said.

"I love you too, Hiccup." She smiled and pressed her lips against his, grabbing a loop in his armour and pulling her to him. Hiccup slipped his hands around her waist and pressed her against him, making him feel something deep inside his stomach. Astrid smiled against Hiccup's lips, pulling away. She looked up at him with her light grey-blue eyes. She reached her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. His arms instantly but carefully strung around her core, creating no space between them. "Never let me go." She whispered into his ear. Hiccup smiled, knowing it was no time for a joke, but he just had to.

"Well, I wouldn't, but I sort of have to to find a way out of here." He pulled away slightly and looked into her eyes, giving her a slight peck on the lips. Astrid simple dans then shakily sat against the wall with Hiccup's help. She kept on shivering as she sat, watching dreamily as Hiccup walked about the small, stone room.

"What do you expect to find, a trap door that leads under the ocean and right to Berk?" Astrid tried with all of her energy to make a small joke, but she sounded like she was trying to hard, so Hiccup sighed.

"That would be nice." Hiccup joked. "But you shouldn't talk, try to sleep, maybe you'll feel better." Hiccup placed his hand against the cool stone wall in the room, sliding it around the rough edges to see if there was a way out of the room.

"Hiccup, Erica is smart, she wouldn't put any type of escape rout through this room. Not if she wants to keep us, that is." Astrid unsteadily leaned back against the rock, finding a comfortable place to put her head, and closed her eyes. Hiccup looked over to her and smiled that awkward smile that Astrid loved.

"Yeah, you're right." Hiccup turned back to walk over to the large door, placing his hands around two of the bars. "But where is she, and what is she doing?" He asked quietly to himself.

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded from down the hall, followed by the sound of an explosion, and then, "Voices." Hiccup said to himself. He attempted to peer out of the bars, only to be unable to see the other door closing them off. "It sounds like," he began, but was cut off by the voices coming closer.

"Whoa! Watch it, you stupid yak butt!" The sound of Tuffnut's voice made Hiccup smile, right before hearing a sound behind him. He turned and saw that Astrid had stood up with the help of Toothless, and was walking towards them. Hiccup turned back to the door.

"Call for them, maybe they can get us out." Astrid said weakly as she hobbled over to where Hiccup stood. She stepped up to the window, beside Hiccup, and placed her arm around his shoulders for support. She smiled as she felt his muscles tense at her touch.

"Ruff! Tuff!" Hiccup screamed, startling Astrid. He yelled through the bars, trying to scream so the twins could hear him through the two doors combined. After he yelled, there was silence. Complete and utter silence. "In here!" He yelled again, but he could already hear the twins speaking.

"Wow, I think Hiccup turned into a door." The sound of Ruffnut's voice came from just outside the other door, followed by the sound of her placing her hand on the door. "Well, I guess we should bring him back as a door. Or should we leave him here? He looks good against this colour r–" she was cut off by Hiccup speaking in his 'very annoyed' tone.

"Can you guys not be stupid for one minute?" He banged his fist on the door and wrapped his other arm around Astrid's shoulder. "Get us out of here! Now!" The sound of the twins chatter stopped, followed by another sound. The sound of a Zippleback spraying it's gas, then the sound of a spark.

The door exploded inwards.

Hiccup and Astrid both fall backwards at the explosion, lucky for them, Toothless stood right behind them, and was able to stop them from falling.

"Haha! Yeah!" Ruffnut screamed as she ran up to the large, metal door that prevented Toothless, Astrid and Hiccup from getting out. She peered into the room, spotting Astrid with her arm around Hiccup, and Toothless standing behind them. "Whoa, you guys are screwed. How are you gone get out of there?" She asked dumbly. Hiccup grunted and stared at Ruffnut through the bars as he began to speak again.

"You are going to help us out." He pointed at the twins through the bars. "Grab something, a large stick, or metal, something. And use it as a lever." He reached his arm out of the bars and pointed at the lever slot that Erica pulled the large, metal and wood stick she had. Tuffnut awkwardly wandered back out of the destroyed door and came back within seconds with the same stick Erica used. Hiccup frowned. "I guess she's not as smart as we thought." He said as he nodded to Tuffnut.

"Ahhh!" Tuffnut grunted as he jammed the stick into the slot, pushing it up. Or, trying to push it up. Tuffnut and his sister both pushed as hard as they could, without the lever budging. Hiccup sighed.

"Go get your Zippleback. He'll," he began. "or, they'll be able to push it." Hiccup pointed out the door once more, gesturing for the twins to get their dragon, or, dragons.

"Yeah, I was gonna do that anyways." Ruffnut said matter-of-factly as she stopped trying to push the lever by standing on her head and using her feet. She rolls backwards as her brother stands beside the lever, rolling his eyes. Ruffnut's hair flew in front of her face as she stood up and hogged awkwardly out the door, coming back in with the Zippleback. "Easy, I totally knew what I was doing." She said as she hung from the Zippleback upside down.

"Of course she did." Astrid sighed as she leaned on Hiccup's shoulder. "At this rate we will die before they even open the door." She smiled as she heard a small laugh rise in Hiccup's chest. Hiccup looked out the bars on the doors and breathed inwards.

"Well, I guess we're getting out faster than you thought." He stepped back from the door with Astrid, pushing Toothless backwards so they could get out of the way of the groaning door. The Zippleback used it's electric head to push the lever, lifting the door. The twins sat with their arms crossed on top of their dragon, smiling.

"Ha, we totally knew what we were doing." Tuffnut said, nodding his head as Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless walked out of the stone room, Hiccup and Astrid sitting on Toothless. Astrid sat in front of Hiccup as he held her against him. She was still pale but her eyes were becoming less grey and returning to their beautiful blue that everyone loved. She nuzzled into his shoulder as Hiccup grabbed the front of Toothless' saddle, telling him to move forward.

"Come on guys, we should get going, Erica will be after us the second she finds out we've left." Hiccup said as Toothless began to lead them slowly out of the dark, cavern tunnel. The twins on their Zippleback followed the others closely as they sat quietly and looked around at the walls surrounding them. It was the first time in a very long time, maybe even the first time, that they had been quiet like this. Astrid and Hiccup liked it.

"This is where I fell into the tunnel, and where this happened." Hiccup said as they stood underneath the hole that he fell through, he placed a gentle hand on his side, pulling away a bit of his ripped armour to show the others where the bloody gash in his skin was. It was still bleeding, and it still hurt, but Hiccup had to stay strong. Even if it meant he may bleed to death, he had to get out of this place, get everyone safe. He knew that he would go straight to his bed when he got back to the village, and he would have at least five people around him, trying to fix him up. But he also knew that right now, he needed to get Astrid and the others safe first.

"Hiccup!" Astrid gasped, wincing, as she placed her hand over his. She didn't know that he had been hurt, so she was beginning to panic. "Hiccup, we need to get back, now, or else you'll bleed to death!" She looked up at Hiccup with her blue eyes, they had fully returned to the blue colour, and that made Hiccup glad. Hiccup carefully took a hold of Astrid's hand, pulling it away from his side and holding her against him.

"Astrid, right now, I am focused on making sure you don't die." He placed a hand on her cheek as the twins flew up the large hole with their Zippleback. Astrid placed her hand over his once again.

"But I can't live without you." She closed her eyes and leaned against him as Toothless began to slowly hover and flap his wings up the stone hole in the ceiling. Hiccup smiled.

"And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you." They flew out of the hole, Hiccup gripping tightly onto Astrid and the front of the saddle. Toothless shot forward into the tunnel, following the twins, and exited it. They flew lightly, just soaring over top of the clouds. They were a light pink colour, and a tinge of orange as well, the same colour they were when Astrid and Hiccup first flew together. Toothless made a low purring sound as he began to speed up, realizing that if he didn't get to Berk in time, Hiccup could die.

"Then we should get home." Astrid sighed as she looked around as the clouds, she reached her hand out to the side, brushing the pinky-orange fluff beside her. She remembered all too well that if it weren't for Toothless, she would have never seen Hiccup for who he truly was. And soon, if Toothless doesn't get them home in time, which he will, she could lose Hiccup. As her hand brushed the last of the clouds, she looked down to see an island, not just any island.

Berk.

"We already are home." Hiccup said quietly as Toothless began to lower them all down onto the land of Berk, the twins having already crash landed into a tree. Astrid looked down at Berk, it was the exact same as before, beautiful. She closed her eyes tightly as they set down onto the ground, scared that something would happen and they would crash. But Toothless was careful, and they were all unharmed.

Hiccup grunted as he slid off of Toothless, helping Astrid off after him. She looked down at his hand as she stood up, still limping on her foot. His hand was gripping the bloody gouge in his side, his hand was now a wet red. Hiccup bent over, clutching his side, and clenched his eyes shut.

He stumbled forward and fell onto the cold stone.

"Hiccup!" Astrid screamed as she knelt down beside him, almost tripping as pain shot up through her foot and into her leg. She now knew it was probably broken. Her hand flew to Hiccup's head, pulling the unconscious boy onto her lap and stroking his hair. She felt underneath his jawline and just at the top of his neck, feeling for a pulse.

There was a pulse.

It was fading quickly.

Toothless growled as he flapped his wings wildly, screeching as he shot a purple ball of fire into the air.

"Help!" Astrid screamed, trying to get someone's attention. Somehow, the twins had gotten out of the tree and had come to Astrid's side. Ruffnut gasped.

"Dude! Go get Stoick and Gobber!" She yelled at her brother, punching him into the arm as she did. Ruffnut sat down beside Astrid, looking at her eyes.

She was crying.

Astrid Hofferson was crying.

Astrid Hofferson _never_ cried.

_Ever_.

"Astrid, don't worry." Ruffnut, the normally terribly rude one, placed a comforting hand on Astrid's shoulder as she cried and held the unconscious Hiccup on her lap. "He'll be fine, I'm sure he will be. We just have to keep faith." She smiled at Astrid as the girl's teary blue eyes glanced up at Ruffnut.

"What if he never wakes up." Astrid began in a rough, tight voice. She looked back down to Hiccup, making sure there was still a pulse, there was. "What if it doesn't turn out like last time. What if he dies." She let's out a short sob and then leans her forehead against Hiccup's, letting her blonde bangs fall into his face, brushing his cheeks. She places a kiss on his cheek. "I didn't get to say goodbye." She says quietly.

"And you won't have to." Ruffnut smiles at her, tipping her chin up with her fingers to look in front of her. Astrid gasped. Tuffnut was coming towards them, running, followed by Gobber and Stoick.

"Hiccup!" Stoick came before Astrid, kneeling down and taking Hiccup from her arms. Astrid knew she had to let him go with his father, she knew that she should let them take him to make him get better. But she cried even harder when Stoick began to walk away with Hiccup in his arms, running to go his house. She fell to the side, sobbing into her sleeves as she covered her face in her arms.

"Astrid." The sound of Gobber's voice made her jump, sitting up straight and staring at him. She wiped her tears from her cheeks, looking up at Gobber through wet eyelashes.

"_What_." She choked. Gobber smiled and helped her up by her arms, she winced when pressure was out on her foot, so she grabbed onto Gobber's shoulder.

"I know it's hard right now, but Hiccup would have wanted ya t' stay strong." He began to slowly help Astrid back to her house. She limped half way there, without a word, just sobs, and tears hitting the stone beneath her feet.

"Gobber." She began, stopping at the town centre, she looked at the road that would have taken her to her house, and then to the one that would take her to Hiccup's house. "Gobber, I want to see him." She looked up at the old man as he stared down at her, making the face that told her that he didn't think it was a good idea.

"I d'no, I think ya should let professionals help him get better." She stared up at Gobber, frowning.

"_No_. I want to see him, now, I can't do anything without knowing he will be alright." Gobber shook his head.

"No one knows if that boy will make it. It's fifty-fifty, or more like a ten percent chance that he will–" Right after he said it, Gobber realized what he said. He looked down at Astrid, who was closing her eyes and shaking her head.

"He made it once, he'll make it again, I can't afford to think that he won't make it." She looked down the road that lead to Hiccup's house once again, then back to Gobber.

"Fine, I'll take you, but don't mention my name when Stoick asks why you're there." Gobber smiled at Astrid and he began to march with her down the stone road.

Hiccup's house was the place she had been when Erica had come in and knocked her out, then proceeding to drag her onto an untrained dragon. The horrible memories after that are things that Astrid wishes she didn't remember. Erica had explained her whole plan to her, Astrid remembered, but she doesn't remember what most of the plan was because she was focused on one thing that Erica had told her. Erica had said that she had only taken her to get Hiccup, and that she would set her free if he gave himself up to her. And the Night Fury. Astrid knew that Hiccup would never, but she wanted to leave that horrid place. Astrid had wished that Hiccup would never come, that he would choose life over Astrid, but she was wrong.

He loved her too much.

And she loved him too much to let him die.

Astrid needed to be with Hiccup, because she knew that love lasts until death, and their love may only last for today.

Gobber smacked his prosthetic hand, which was a mace, on the door of Hiccup and Stoick's house. Only to run away afterwards. Astrid had no idea why Stoick would care if Gobber would come to see him, let alone why he would care if Astrid came to see Hiccup. She was the only one who cared about him more than anything in the world. Hiccup's father might care a lot about him, but not in the way Astrid cares. Stoick has to love Hiccup, he doesn't have a choice. But Astrid chose to love Hiccup. She chose Hiccup, no one else.

And Hiccup chose her.

The door to the house swung open, with Stoick standing in the doorway. His face was not his usual I-can-break-a-rock-just-by-looking-at-it face. He seemed to be wearing a blank look that made him look vulnerable. A little too vulnerable, in fact.

Maybe that rock would be able to break _him_ now.

"Astrid, I–" Stoick began, but he stopped and sighed, opening the door wider when he saw that Astrid's eyes were filled with tears, and her cheeks were red and wet. "Come in, dear." Stoick said in his softer voice, he normally only used that voice when he was talking to his wife, but she was gone now. The last time Astrid had heard him speak to his wife like that, was when she was a child. "So, what can I do for you?" Stoick said, closing the door behind the crying Astrid. She held herself like she would never, she had her arms folded carelessly across her chest and her posture was only a little more slouchy than before. But her hair was always perfect, no matter what the occasion. Even if she had been attacked, kidnapped, almost killed, and experienced someone she loved almost die. Her ankle was so painful, but she didn't care about that now, so she pushed the thought out of her head, forgetting about the pain.

Astrid looked up at Stoick, he was bigger than she was. About ten times the size of her, but he looked weak today. "I'm here to see Hic–" his name caught in her throat, making her let out another short sob. She closed her eyes and reached up to wipe her tears away, then proceeding to breath inwards deeply. When she was about to speak again, Stoick lightly placed a large hand on her shoulder, looking down at her.

"The boy's upstairs in the spare room." Astrid sighed, thanked Stoick with a nod, and stepped past him to proceed up the stairs. They creaked when she stepped on them, but she didn't pay attention to that, she only payed attention to the fact that Hiccup was upstairs.

Dying.

When she reached the top of the stairs, her ankle aching, there were two doors in front of her. There was a completely closed, wooden door and a slightly open white door. She peered through the crack in the white door, choked on her breath, and then opened it.

She closed it instantly.

Astrid turned around slowly, tears rolling down her eyes as she leaned against the door. A hand flew to her mouth, trying to stifle a sob. She shook her head as she began to breath harder, her mouth becoming dry. She swallowed, trying to keep her mouth wet, her head began to become dizzy. She limped forward, in slow, uneasy steps. She heard a loud noise from downstairs, clenching her fists at the sound, but still moving forward to the small bed that lay in front of her. There were bottles of things beside the bed, a bowl of herbs and a small, bloody needle. Inside the bed was someone. They weren't awake, their eyes were closed. She could see they werent breathing.

It was Hiccup.

His face was pale. Astrid could see splotches of blood staining his hair, his forehead, and the blankets around him. There was one large stain of blood just by his stomach. There was a chair beside the bed.

Astrid slumped down into the chair, her bangs hanging in front of her eyes, since her leather band was gone, they hung in a different way now. She sat forward in the chair, leaning her head on the bed, beside Hiccup. Tears slowly dripped down onto the thin blanket as she reached out to touch his hand. When her fingertips brushed the top of his hand, she closed her eyes, his hands were freezing. She remembered Gobber telling her that if someone isn't warm, they won't get better. Someone had taken Hiccup's armour and tunic off to stitch up his injury, the blanket lay just below his collarbone. His shoulders and his arms were out of the blanket. There was a shallow cut and a large smear of blood just above his collar bone. Astrid sighed. She loved Hiccup, and didn't want to lose him. He had scared her into thinking he wasn't going to make it once, he did make it, but this time he may not.

Astrid sat up, looking down at the dying boy in front of her. He wasn't like he was when she had first seen him. He had been skinny, short, he'd had no muscles, and he was really just plain clumsy. Now he was tall, he was still skinny but he had gained some muscle. He wasn't like any of the other Vikings in their village. He didn't have the body build of any of them, and Astrid liked that. She found the large body build a little bit unappealing and unattractive. He was graceful now, not the ballerina graceful, but he always knew what he was doing and how to do it.

Tears fell onto the blanket beside Hiccup.

Astrid couldn't help but think about Hiccup and what he would be doing if she had been on her death bed in front of him. He would have stayed with her until she woke up, or until he knew for a fact she wasn't coming back. He would have sat by her grave ever day until he died. Or maybe he would just forget about her. But Astrid wasn't about to forget about him, or anything he was.

"Astrid?" Stoick's voice startled her from her daydreaming. She sat up straight and almost fell out of the chair, she looked at Stoick who was standing in the doorway. She nodded. "You've been up here almost half an hour, are you alright?" Stoick smiled weakly.

"Half an hour?" Astrid choked on the words, it seemed to her that her voice didn't want to speak. She couldn't have been up there for half an hour, it seemed like only five minutes, not even. "Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine." She wiped a tear from her wet, red cheeks.

Stoick pointed to the desk beside her. "The blue one with the red band, if you want to, you can give it to him." He sighed and leaned against the door. Astrid looked back to the table and picked up the small, blue bottle with a thin blue ribbon around the centre. It had no words, but she knew from the smell that it was some type of medicine. She spun back to Stoick with the bottle in hand. "There's a spoon on the table, just one spoonful into his mouth is good, alright?" He smiled and then, without another word, he left. Astrid sat, shocked, and looked back to Hiccup. His chest wasn't even moving, he wasn't breathing, but she reached her hand to his neck and felt a pulse.

That made her smile.

"Alright," she whispered to him as she took the small, silver spoon and poured the clear, red liquid into it. She lifted it up over Hiccup's mouth and set the bottle down, leaning forward. "If I give you this, you have to promise to get better. I know you've lost a lot of blood, and you might not make it, but at least let me say good bye." She leaned forward further and reached her other hand forward, carefully opening his mouth by lightly pulling down his chin so that she could put the medicine into it. Her small, fragile hand tilted the spoon a little to the side and let the red liquid medicine fall into his mouth. The liquid trickled down his throat, reaching his stomach as Astrid leaned back in her chair. The blanket had moved further down his chest, so she lifted it up so it reached his neck. "Nice and warm." She whispered quietly, sniffing as she pulled her hand away and set the spoon onto the desk. Her body tilted forward and her head rested upon the pillow beside Hiccup's head. "I love you." She moved forward and hovered her head over top of his, looking down at his pale face, she moved her head downwards. Her lips carefully brushed his, her arm wrapped around his cold body, she rested her head on his chest, listening to the faint beat of his heart. She closed her eyes. She didn't want anything but Hiccup to wrap his lengthy arms around her now, to hold her tightly against him, to tell her that he loves her. She knew that he wanted her back as well, he was probably fighting to stay alive.

Hiccup's chest rose in a stuttering breath.

Astrid sat up and looked with wide eyes down at the boy in front of her. His chest was rising and falling like any normal person's should if they were sleeping. Her hand flew to his neck, checking his pulse.

It was beating normally, but it was still a bit unsteady.

Astrid smiled.

She stood up and hovered over Hiccup, watching at air entered his lungs through his nose and out again. As her hand lay on his chest, she could feel his great beat. Her hand slid to his cheek, feeling the slight warmth on her hand made her choke out a small sob of happiness. Astrid was so happy that happy couldn't even describe what she was feeling. Hiccup was breathing. He was alive.

But she didn't know for how much longer.

"Stoick!" She screamed through a dry throat, coughing as she got the words out of her mouth. It almost seemed like she was screaming for help. She heard someone walking slowly downstairs, walking towards the stairs. Stoick was coming up.

Astrid looked back or Hiccup, his chest was rising smoothly now, and his breathing was as soft as a feather. She stretched her arm to the other side of Hiccup, leaning over him. Her hair fell into her face and hung downwards as she put her head down onto his chest to listen to his heartbeat. It was as steady as the canter of a horse, it was persistent, strong, it was beautiful. Astrid closed her eyes as she smiled brightly, listening to the living heartbeat of the boy that was dying not five minutes ago.

His arm flinched.

Astrid shot up straight and watched Hiccup's arm as she heard Stoick begin to mount the stairs and slowly walk up. His arm moved onto his stomach, sitting just over top of where the rock stabbed him. Where he had almost bled to death. His hand clenched into a loose fist.

"Hiccup." Astrid breathed, grabbing his hand that was on his stomach. The second she touched his hand, she heard him groan. She smiled even more, letting out a small giggle of joy. She held his hand between her two hands. "Hiccup, I-it's me." She watched as his hand slowly began to tighten around hers, gripping in a light grasp. His eyes fluttered, brushing his eyelashes against each other, sticking with blood from falling and hitting his head. Astrid breathed heavily as she watched his eyes flutter open, staring blankly at the ceiling as she hung over top of him. He seemed to be looking right past her, staring at something farther away from her. His lips parted and he drew in a breath.

His eyes met hers. "Astrid." He smiled a broken smile before Astrid bent down, wrapping her arms around him behind his neck. His arms slipped around her waist, hugging her lightly.

"I love you." She whispered roughly into his ear as Hiccup closed his eyes.


	4. Hugs and Kisses, Love Astrid!

"I love you too." Hiccup breathed as Astrid let tears of joy fall onto his bare shoulder. He shivered as he felt a sudden cool breeze against his other shoulder, but it was instantly covered up by Astrid's warmth as he attempted to sit up. An extreme pain ran through his side, making him fall back again. Astrid held him as she sat on the bed beside him, her eyes filled with tears. He groaned and clenched his eyes shut, placing a hand over his injury. "Ow, what happened?" He breathed as he look to Astrid, his eyes meeting hers. They were filled with tears and her cheeks were bright red. "Wha–?, why are you crying?" He reached a hand to grab hers, pushing himself up with the other one so he could get comfortable while sitting up. Another shot of pain came again, but this one was bearable, so he sat against the back of the bed, against the wall. The blanket had called and was at his waist now. He knew that he was still wearing his pants, but he wasn't wearing his tunic, which made him a bit uneasy knowing he was with Astrid.

But Astrid's eyes weren't looking at his bear chest, they were looking into his eyes. "You almost died." Astrid said quietly, almost a whisper. Hiccup frowned, brushing a tear from her cheek.

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?" He smiled at her as he opened his arms wide, beckoning her to him. She grinned weakly and slowly leaned forward, leaning her head against Hiccup's shoulder as they both breathed steadily. Her arms wrapped around to his back, her fingers sliding over the muscles in his back. His hands were around Astrid, one around her waist and one holding her head. He felt a sting of pain as her hair touched the cut on his collarbone, but he didn't care, Astrid was in his arms.

Astrid gasped. "Oh! You should take this." She picked up the little red bowl with some medicine made from herbs and berries, mixed together with hot water. "It will reduce the pain of, well, everything." She handed him the bowl, almost shoving it into his face.

"Here." He took it and clenched his eyes, taking three bug gulps. He handed it back to her.

"Thanks." He smiled up at Astrid, watching her carefully as she set the bowl back onto the table beside the bed.

The door flung open, Stoick standing in the doorway his face still sad. Astrid guessed that he thought she had called for help because Hiccup's heart had stopped, but no.

"Son!" Stoick gasped, rushing over to kneel beside the bed. Astrid looked at Stoick as her head rested on Hiccup's shoulder. He looked down at Astrid, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "What did you do, Astrid?" He asked softly, seeming to be happy for whatever she did, even if she kicked the life back into him, he was happy he was alive. Hiccup grinned as he kissed her on top of her head.

"I told him I loved him." She felt Hiccup giggle lightly in his chest. "Then I–" Astrid stopped, knowing that she was not only talking to Hiccup's father, but the chief of the village. "I kissed him." She sighed, hearing Stoick sigh as well. His eyes went to look at Hiccup.

"Well, whatever you did, thank you, I'm just glad you're alive, son!" He placed a hand on Hiccup's head, feeling the blood in his hair. "Why don't we get you cleaned up, there. You're covered in your own blood!" He smiled, wiping the blood that got onto his hand on the bed sheets. He glanced down to Astrid. "Thank you," he turned back to Hiccup. "You know where the tub is, go get scrubbing." He leaned over and planted a big kiss on Hiccup's forehead, smiling before he left. It almost seemed like he couldn't wait to leave and go tell the whole village that his son was alive, because the next thing they heard was Stoick's booming voice and a loud cheering crowd coming from outside.

"Well, he seemed happy to know I resurrected you." Astrid smiled, pulling away from Hiccup. "Now, you don't seem capable of getting the tub yourself, you want me to get it?" Hiccup nodded as Astrid left the room, coming back in dragging a large, metal tub filled with water into the room. She turned to Hiccup, wiping herself of water. "I think I may need to change my clothes, they're completely soaked!" She laughed, pulling her hair out of her braid and letting it hand down around her shoulders.

"You know, I've never seen you with your hair down." He frowned and smiled at the same time, cocking his head while looking at Astrid. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. The medicine for the pain seemed to be working because he only felt a tinge of pain here and there. Astrid lifted her eyes to look at Hiccup. She didn't want to stare too long, knowing he didn't have his tunic on, but she looked into his eyes.

They were bright green, even brighter and more beautiful than when she first saw them. Although she wasn't paying attention to his eyes when she first saw him, now she loved his eyes.

She loved him.

She moved a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Well, I was, um–" she bit her lip, embarrassed. She didn't know what to say, Hiccup seemed to always know what to say. Most of the time. But she usually had a way with words, but when she was around Hiccup like this, she never knew what to say. Hiccup smiled and let out a short laugh.

"Don't worry, I love it." He stood up and carefully limped over to Astrid, standing before her and placing his hand over hers. He looked own at her. He was much taller than her now, people need time to grow up, and Hiccup was grown up. Astrid felt like a child looking up at him, like she was staring up at her father. But she knew Hiccup, and she didn't need to feel that way. But she couldn't help herself feeling small when she was with him. His fingers brushed a strand of hair from her eyes. "I can see your eyes." He smiled down at her, touching her cheek lightly before sliding his fingers underneath her chin, lifting her lips up to meet his. His arm strung around her waist, pulling her to him as she kissed him back. His other hand held the back of her neck. Astrid's arms hung loosely around Hiccup's shoulders as she stood on her toes, kissing him. Hiccup began to slowly start to walk backwards, his prosthetic leg squeaking, and he backed up just in front of the metal tub filled with water. Astrid stayed with him, her arms around his neck, their lips pressing together. Hiccup stumbled backwards, falling into the tub with Astrid on top of him.

Astrid pushed herself up with her arms completely submerged in the water, her eyes were at the exact same hight as Hiccup's. "Maybe we should get you cleaned up first, we can come back to this later." As much as Astrid wanted to continue, she always knew that priorities came before fun. She kissed Hiccup quickly once more before turning around to get out of the metal tub. Right before she could grab the side of the tub to pull herself out, she slipped back in and landed beside Hiccup, the two if them now squished together, drenched. Astrid's hair hung in front of her face in long, wet locks. She let out a short laugh before looking to Hiccup, his head was leaning back and he was smiling, giggling softly. Astrid stood up in the tub, her boots becoming soaked, and hopped out, stepping onto the wooden ground. She turned Back to Hiccup, who was now looking at her sweetly, and sighed, moving her weight to one side.

"Okay, so now that I'm soaking wet, I'm going to go home and get changed." She pointed to him. "You get cleaned up, you still have stuff on your back. And don't forget to wash behind your ears." She winked at him and stepped backwards, placing her hand on the door and pulling it open, she stepped out of the room. Astrid leaned against the door, closing her eyes and smiling. "He's alive." She opened her eyes and began to head down the stairs, leaving a small puddle where her feet were placed. "And he's still Hiccup." She muttered to herself as she reached the bottom of the stairs, stopping when she saw that Stoick had seen her. His eyes widened as she smiled at him, shrugging as her boots made a squishing sound when she stepped forward.

"I'm scared to know what you two were doing up there." He smiled and looked at Astrid as he grabbed a small, woven towel from a chair. "Here, dry off and head home, we're having a little feast tonight in the Great Hall. You're invited, of course." Astrid smirked, her eyes closing slightly.

"It's a little late for a feast, isn't it?" Astrid scoffed, breathing deeply.

"It's never too late for a feast! It will go into tomorrow if it needs to!" Stoick's chest seemed to vibrate with sound as he bellowed.

"And what would this feast be in honour of?" Astrid took the towel from Stoick's big hand and wrapped it around her shoulders, walking slowly to the door as she awaited her answer. Stoick grinned.

"Well, Hiccup, of course!" The older man stepped over to Astrid and opened the door for her, smiling down at the girl.

"You always make up an excuse for a feast anytime." She took a few steps forward and turned around when she stood outside the house, she looked back to Stoick. Her eyes weren't narrowed, but her smile was still there. Stoick laughed.

"Well, I can't say it's an excuse, the boy didn't die!" He put a hand to his stomach. "And who doesn't love a good feast?" He nodded to Astrid as she shook her head, laughing, and began down the stairs. The soaking wet girl was half way down the front stairs when Stoick called out to her again. "Astrid?" She turned around as the man spoke to her.

"Yes?" She answered him, wiping her hair off with the woven towel. Her hand moved in slow circles around her hair with the towel, drying it off only a bit.

"Thank you, for bringing him back to us." He said to her. Astrid frowned.

"Chief, don't thank me, it's the Night Fury you should be thanking. That dragon brought us both home." She shook her head and smiled at the thought of Toothless, wondering where he went to at this point. He was probably with the twins in the training centre.

"No, I mean for bringing him back to life, I don't think it was the medicine working quickly, I do think that you did something that no one else in this whole world can you. He fought to come back because of you, he really loves you, Astrid." That made Astrid blush slightly, making her close her eyes. The chief shut the door with a nod and Astrid turned around and began to walk home. Her hair and clothes dripped onto the cold stones beneath her feet as she walked, a thin layer of snow and frost covered the ground, making her shiver with the wind.

**That Evening**

"Son?" Stoick's voice boomed through the house as Hiccup came out of the spare room, he had cleaned himself up and was ready to head to the Great Hall. The medicine for the pain had worn off a little bit after Astrid had left, so Stoick had told him to take a little bit more. He began down the stairs and quickly hopped down off of the last step, his metal leg squeaking loudly. Stoick saw him and smiled.

"Well, you look much better than you did earlier today." He walked over to where his son was standing, looking down at Hiccup's stomach. "How's that death blow doin'?" Hiccup was wearing his nicer clothes, the type of clothes you would wear to a party. Now, every time they had a feast, everyone wore their nice clothes. Hiccup was wearing a clean, green tunic with a black leather belt and his brown pants with small buckles that wrap around his prosthetic leg. His right foot had his soft leather and fur boot that he made himself. There were two, small braids near the back of his head on the right. He also had a fur and leather vest over his tunic. It was like he was wearing the clothes he wore when he was younger, but they were cleaner and he had made these himself. Even if they were his best clothes, he still just wore it because he was comfortable in it. He was also completely free of blood and dirt.

Stoick looked back down to his son's face, seeing that Hiccup was frowning.

"Still aches, but only a little bit, thanks to Astrid." He smiled slightly, but enough for his father to see. Stoick placed his fists on his hips.

"Is that a good thanks or a bad thanks?" Hiccup let out a low laugh, followed by his father crossing his arms.

"It's a good thanks." Hiccup said before slowly walking towards the door. He winced as another little shock of pain rushed through his side, he held the door frame to steady himself. His dad came up behind him, opening the door for him.

"I know it's a feast, but I wouldn't suggest eating. Maybe sit outside with one of your friends." He placed a big hand on Hiccup's shoulder, helping him stand up straight as he stepped out of the house with him. He closed the door and looked down at Hiccup. "The solo flying tail was put on Toothless, and he has been put with the other dragons in the training academy. We thought he could get some rest after today." He smiled. Hiccup shot his glance up to his father.

"Dad, we were gone today because someone wants me and Toothless, they want to use us to train the untrainable dragons and take over each and every island here. They want us dead." Hiccup said as he looked down at the ground, walking down the stairs, his father followed him and continued to talk.

"There are people watching the academy everyone hour of every day, Toothless is fine. And you're right here with me, no one can hurt you." They stepped onto the stone path towards the Great Hall, where multiple other people were there, all wearing the nicer clothes. Hiccup saw that some of the women were wearing dresses and leather belts around their waists. He kept seeing most of the men in their warrior uniforms without the armour because that was the most formal thing they had. Hiccup continued on to mount the stairs to the Great Hall, moving through the other crowd of Vikings that greeted him and told him how glad they were to see him healthy.

"Good to see ya back t' normal, boy." One of them said, patting him heavily on the back as they entered the Great Hall. Hiccup watched as Stoick walked to the from of the large room, getting everyone's attention by banging his fist onto the biggest table.

"Everyone!" He bellowed in his large voice, waving his hands above his head. Everyone's head turned his way. "Let the feast begin!" He said, laughing as everyone cheered and began to pick through the large pile of food on a few of the tables. Hiccup stood there by the door, leaning against it and staring outside into the dark, pink sky as people came in. When the last person entered, he went outside and sat on the steps, staring into the sky as the stars began to appear. He would pick at a few pieces of the frost-bitten grass for fun, just to do something. He was about to go down to the academy to see Toothless, maybe go for a fly among the clouds, but someone opened the door and sat beside him. Hiccup didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment, but he turned his head to look at them anyways.

It was Astrid.

She was beautiful.

She was wearing her hair down, letting the golden locks fall in a wavy halo around her face, showing off her eyes because her bangs were behind her ears. She was wearing a blue dress that reached just above her knees, and leather sandals that's wrapped up to just below her knee. Her leather bands that she normally had around her arms were gone, and her arms were bear. There was a loose, thin, leather strap that hung around her waist, showing off her figure. Astrid felt naked because she was wearing so little, but she didn't mind, it was only Hiccup.

"Hi." Astrid croaked quietly, smiling at Hiccup as she folded her hands in her lap. Her legs were lying to one side, like a true lady would do if she was sitting like Astrid was, but Astrid never sat like that.

Not until today.

"Hi." Hiccup said in a whisper, grinning as he nodded, turning his head back to look at the ground and closing his eyes. He felt a hand on his hands as they folded together. It was think fragile and cold, it was Astrid's. He opened his eyes and turn his head to look at her again. She was sitting closer to him now, one hand on her lap, and the other grasping his hand. Hiccup opened his hands and took Astrid's hand in between his two, caressing it as he pressed his lips to her hand. Astrid smiled, moving closer to Hiccup so their bodies touched now, she pulled her hand from his grasp and draped her arm around his shoulders and back, pulling him close to her in a hug. Hiccup sighed as Astrid pressed her head to his chest, right above his heart. He held her tightly, like if he let her go, he would lose her, and he didn't want to lose her.

"She'll come back, I know she will." He whispered to Astrid, pressing a lingering kiss onto the top of her head as he closed his eyes. Astrid breathed slowly as she felt Hiccup's chest rise and fall, breathing along with him. Both of their heads seemed to move up at the same time, because the next thing they knew, their noses were almost touching, not even a centimetre away from each other. They stared into each other's eyes for a long time, until Hiccup smiled and moved forward only a small amount, touching his lips to Astrid's. He moved his hand to her back, pulling her closer to him as his other hand went to her neck, deepening the kiss. Astrid smiled against Hiccup's lips and pulled back a bit after a few seconds, she stared into his eyes.

"There is a possibility that people could see us," she pointed to the window behind Hiccup.

"There's a window right there." She smiled again and stood up, taking Hiccups hand and helping him up with her. Although he was taller than her, they were almost the same height now because Astrid was standing one step above him. "Come with me," she started down the stairs, letting go of. Hiccup's hand, beckoning for him to follow her. "I have an idea." She began down the stairs, the skirt of her dress flailing behind her along with her hair as the wind blew in her face. Hiccup sighed, smiled and then began after her as she rushed through the village streets. It was dark, but he could still see her enough to follow her. They continued down to the multiple bridges that lead down to the beach, but Hiccup lost her once they got close to the water and were in a small patch of forest.

"Astrid?" Hiccup said as he searched around the trees for her, but he only cam to the damp sand of the beach and still couldn't find her. He decided to wait there for her. "Astrid?" He said again, louder. Suddenly, the sound of splashing waves came from the water behind him. Hiccup turned quickly, searching for the source of the sound, but only saw a dark figure in the water. He walked slowly down the beach, stopping when he spotted something dark on the sand before the water. He bent down to look at it and then gasped.

It was Astrid's sandals and belt.

He looked up and saw that the figure in the water was Astrid. She was wading around with her back turned to Hiccup, facing the moon than was rising on the horizon. Her hair was wet and hanging around her shoulders heavily, and the silhouette of her dress could be seen in the black water. Although it seemed to be reaching her waist now. Hiccup suddenly realized what she was doing, and decided to join her. He dropped his shirt beside Astrid's belt and sandals, leaving his pants on, and slowly began to unbuckle his leg. He knew he wasn't able to bring it into water for too long, baths were an exception, so he knew he should take it off. When he unbuckled the leather straps, he pulled it off and let his pant leg fall and reach the ground.

Empty.

Hiccup then proceeded to slowly hop down to the water, wading carefully into it, as he hopped on his one leg, to Astrid. He had learned to use just his one leg at times when he went swimming with the other Viking teens. But this time he was steady while walking into the water. When he reached Astrid, he stood about a meter behind her.

Astrid turned only her head to look at Hiccup, she smiled when she saw him, beginning to speak. "I see that you decided to join me." She said quietly as she moved her hands slowly back and forth in the the water, looking back to the moon. Hiccup grinned slightly, watching as the moon's reflection circled and swayed around her, illuminating her. It seemed like she was glowing. He slowly and carefully moved forward, standing right behind her. Astrid looked back at him once more, blushing as she saw that he didn't have his shirt on.

"Why wouldn't I join you?" Hiccup slid his hand forward and grasped Astrid's hand, holing it tightly in his grasp. They stood there, staring at the moon for a few more seconds before Astrid stepped backwards, standing exactly in front of Hiccup. She grasped his hands and lifted them over her so they hung down over her shoulders. She leaned her head back onto Hiccup's chest, letting him rest his chin in the crook of her neck. He slowly kissed her neck as Astrid closed her eyes, breathing inwards as he did. She turned her head and caught his lips with hers as they stood still, pressing their lips together. Astrid lifted her hand and placed it onto Hiccups cheek, caressing it as she turned around slowly, her eyes still closed. Hiccup moved his hand down, carefully placing it at the small of Astrid's back, over her dress, as he pressed her to him, bringing them together. He deepened the kiss as he placed his other hand on the back of Astrid's neck, underneath her wet hair. Astrid moved her hands onto Hiccup's chest, lingering them there for while.

"I love you." Astrid pulled away for only a second to whisper that to Hiccup, moving her hands up to his cheeks again to bring his lips down to hers. Hiccup pulled away also, only for a lingering second to respond.

"I love you more." Hiccup said, making Astrid smile against his lips. She slowly and steadily lifted her right leg up so that it was wrapped around Hiccup's waist. She, had kept her dress on, but hadn't decided to wear any undergarments, but Hiccup had his pants on, so there was some layers between them. Astrid strung her arms around Hiccups shoulders so that her hands were clasped behind his back. Hiccup moved both of his hand onto Astrid's back, pulling her to him. Nothing could come between then right now, there wasn't any space between them, so they couldn't go any closer. But they still felt like they were miles apart. Astrid lightly bit Hiccup's lower lip, followed by him licking hers to ask for entrance. Astrid gladly let him in by parting her lips slightly. Their tongues seemed to dance around with each other as their mouths parted and closed again. Astrid pulled back again and again only to dive back to his lips. When she pulled back a little more, Hiccup began to kiss her neck, leaving trails of kisses along her neck, shoulder and collar bone as she let her head fall back. She moaned lightly as Hiccup's lips reached her jawline, lightly trailing his tongue along it to her ear, where he proceeded to nibble softly. He then pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers, staring into her eyes. Astrid smiled.

"Don't let go." She whispered as she smiled, staring deep into his green eyes that reflected the silver-black water, making them illuminate. Hiccup moved his left hand to hold her thigh as her leg tightly wrapped around him. He changed from looking at her left eye and her right eye, smiling as he touched his nose to hers.

"Never." He whispered as he lifted his hand from her thigh and brushed his thumb along her jawline. Astrid smiled and closed her eyes, leaning her head back as Hiccup leaned forward and left a long, lingering kiss on her jaw. He moved down, kissing her neck, then proceeding to leave a line of kisses down her neck, leading to her collar bone. When he reached her collar bone, he moved back up and caught her lips with his as her arms tightened around his neck. As she tightened her leg on his waist, his single leg slipped on the sand beneath the water, making the two of them fall underneath the water. Hiccup opened his eyes under the water and could see Astrid staring at him, holding her breath in the clear water. He gulped a little breath of air before coming back down with her under the water. He reached for her, pulling her to him in a wet kiss, sharing their air as they breathed in and out. They stayed with their mouths pressed together, breathing, for a while, until they came up for some fresh air. Their heads stuck out of the water, Astrid's hair fanning out around her as the water circled the two of them. Astrid moved forward to place her arms around Hiccup's neck as she looked up at him. The water only reached her neck, but it reached below Hiccup's shoulders. He had grown and was four inches taller than her now. She smiled as Hiccup wrapped his arms around her waist, their chests pressing together. Hiccup looked down at Astrid as she smiled.

"Did you leave it on the beach?" Astrid whispered, looking at the black sky and then to him with a look in her eyes that Hiccup couldn't seem to figure out. He was confused at what she was saying, so he shook his head and answered.

"I didn't leave anything but my shirt on the beach." He said quietly, wondering why she would ask that question. But Astrid closed her eyes and leaned her head on Hiccup's chest, taking in his scent. She sighed shakily.

"Your leg." She whispered, so quietly that it was even hard for Hiccup to hear, but he heard it because of the stillness of the water and the quietness of the black night around them. He held her tighter against him, closing his eyes. He wondered why it mattered.

"Yes, why do you ask." Hiccup said, looking down at Astrid as she smiled up at him. "Do I need it?"

"You may in a few seconds." Astrid looked back to the dark sky, just over the top of the trees. A black figure darted through the sky, blocking out stars as it shot quickly through the air. Hiccup gasped and stared at the figure.

"Toothless? What is he doing here?" Suddenly, the Night Fury shot towards the two love birds and darted downwards, his arms outstretched. Hiccup held Astrid tight against him, her arms and legs wrapped around him. They both closed their eyes. "Hold on, I think we may be going for a ride." Hiccup said tensely as he waited for the dragon to grab them both. A sudden shock of heaviness was felt on Hiccup's shoulders as the Night Fury swooped overhead, picking them up in his large, black arms. Astrid was tucked away neatly between Hiccup and Toothless as she opened her eyes, looking over his shoulder.

The ground was thousands of miles beneath them, not even recognizable as the island of Berk.

They never flew this high, no one but Hiccup and Toothless.

Astrid screamed, closing her eyes tightly as she tightened her grip on Hiccup's waist and shoulders. The low sound of Hiccup laughing shuddered through Astrid. He held her against him, kissing her on the head before he proceeded to look up at Toothless' head.

"Hey bud? Where are we going?" Hiccup said, knowing he wouldn't get an answer, but he knew it wouldn't be good where they were going. That was until Toothless turned back and flew faster towards the village of Berk. Astrid opened her eyes only a little to see their village. "What the-" Hiccup began as Toothless descended and let them down onto the ground lightly. As soon as they stood up, Hiccup saw that Toothless had grabbed his prosthetic leg as he swooped down, so he picked it up in his right hand, leaning on Astrid with his other. Astrid looked up at him, she looked tattered, her hair was messy from the wind and water, her beautiful dress was now wet and hanging loosely around her, making her look like she just fell into the ocean.

Well, she was in the ocean.

Hiccup stumbled forward as he struggled to buckle up his prosthetic leg onto his stump. When he finished, he stepped forward, pulling Astrid along with him.

"Why did Toothless drag us here for nothing." He said, walking slowly up to the Great Hall, but before he made it to the top of the steps with Astrid's hand in his, he looked down to the water, where he could see a boat that clearly did not have the sign of Berk on its flag. He frowned, pointing it out to Astrid, but they were both thinking the same thing. Hiccup rushed to the doors and pushed them open, Astrid standing beside him. As he did, he gawked at what he saw, pulling Astrid close to him as she screamed quietly into his shoulder.  
Before them were two people, a taller woman and a shorter one. They were standing in front of Stoick, as the three of them laughed. When Stoick saw Hiccup, he instantly frowned.

"My boy! Come here, there is something I need to tell you." He gestured to the two woman. The shorter one looked about Hiccup and Astrid's age. "This woman has told me that her clan is running out of supplies for their sick, and is asking to join our two tribes." He said, clenching his fists together. Hiccup shook his head, staring at the two woman as Astrid hid with her face hurried into his chest. He held her tightly to him.

"You mean by marriage?" Hiccup croaked, frowning as he held Astrid tighter, leaning his chin on her head. Stoick nodded.

"It is only by marriage that we can combine the two tribes, and by the next in line chiefs, that is." Hiccup gasped. He was next in line for chief, and by the looks of it, Stoick thought that the younger girl was too.

"Dad, I'm not getting married to someone I don't love." He stared at his father, but Stoick only frowned.

"It's for the good of our people, we have already made the arrangements and the dates. You'll be fine, it's not like it will kill you." He smiled and shook his sons hair, but Hiccup only whispers hi to Astrid's ear.

"I'll find a way out of this, trust me." He could feel her tears on his bare chest as she choked a bit on her air. The taller woman came and walked over to them, staring down at Hiccup.

"And I assume that this boy here will be the man who will have the honour of my daughters hand, yes?" She grinned down at Hiccup and Astrid, scoffing as she looked sweetly up to Stoick. Stoick smiled and laughed.

"Yes, he is, and in two days time!" He bellowed. Hiccup looked over and saw Gobber sadly staring at them, he was the only one who truly understood how much Astrid and Hiccup loved each other, and knew that this would break their hearts and dreams. Hiccups eyes averted to the woman, glaring up at her, he muttered under his breath so that only her, himself and Astrid would hear.

"Erica."


	5. Blood and Rings and Future Things

Stoick smiled, clapping his hands together as he watched Hiccup glaring at Erica. He stood there uneasily for a second before Astrid let go of. Hiccup, stepping away from him and walking out of the Great Hall. "Well," Stoick said, watching the door slam behind Astrid. "That was truly unexpected." He looked back to Erica, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "Why don't you get to know Erica's daughter, Hiccup, you will love her." Erica turned to walk back to the younger and shorter girl, standing behind her as Stoick led Hiccup over to the two girls.

"This is my daughter, Felicity." Hiccup frowned, should he make the same joke he made before, just to make Erica know he was going to do everything to get away from her and her daughter. He would do anything to save his village.

"Well, that's not a very scary name, is it?" He glared at Erica, driving his glare straight into her eyes, he knew she must be uncomfortable with that. Erica shifted awkwardly as Hiccup stared at her, she glanced back to Stoick.

"No, I like to be different. And that's why I would like to propose new traditions for the wedding, the ones that my village uses." Stoick frowned, smiling also as he looked at Erica with big eyes. Hiccup wished that Erica would just leave them alone, and leave. He would do anything to get out of this wedding. But he knew he needed to be married and have a wife when he became chief. But he wanted to marry someone he truly loved.  
And he already had someone in mind.

"Well, it would be an, honour to welcome new traditions into our tribe." Stoick said cheerfully, ruffling his son's hair with his big hand. Hiccup flinched angrily away from his father as he did so, making Stoick frown. Right after, the chief clapped his hands together. "So! The wedding is tomorrow! Let's get decorating!" Stoick turned to inform the other people in the Great Hall. Hiccup gasped and his eyes flew open, staring at Erica and Felicity as his father walked away.

"Tomorrow?" He croaked, glaring at Erica as she stood there, smiling. "Why are you here, and what do you want?" He pointed a finger at her, furrowing his eyebrows as he did so. Felicity smiled, putting her hand on Hiccup's finger, pushing it down so he was pointing at the floor. She looked at him, leaning her weight to one side.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had just stayed." Her brown eyes made Hiccup feel awkward, her hair was a brighter yellow that Astrid's, almost like the sun, and her eyes seemed to not have pupils because they were so dark. She looked like an elf.

"Yeah, well I tried to give myself up and you broke our deal." He stared back up to Erica, watching her as she placed a hand on Felicity's shoulder. Hiccup wasn't sure if they were truly related, because they looked nothing alike. Erica had much darker hair, even a black colour, and her eyes were bright green, almost yellow. It was like they were opposites.

"It doesn't matter now, these are your consequences. I will ruin your life, no matter how long it takes, and I will do whatever it takes to get that dragon of yours." She frowned at him, glancing around to make sure no one was watching them and listening to their conversation. Hiccup flung his hand forward, grabbing hold of Erica's wrist, gripping tightly. Erica squealed slightly as Hiccup's grip sent a shock of pain through her arm. Felicity flinched and gasped as Hiccup did this. He pulled Erica's wrist so that her face was inches from his. His eyes glared into hers, frowning.

"If you lay one hand on Toothless, or anyone that I love or care about," he began as Erica tried to writhe from his grip, but it was no use, he was stronger than her. She also didn't have the body build up of a normal Viking. "I will personally chop both of your hands clean off, and leave you for death on an unknown island." His voice shook as he stared into her eyes, she seemed scared from the look she was giving him. But that look faded when she frowned at him. She smiled and turned her arm so that she was holding Hiccup's wrist, then she proceeded to drag him outside of the Great Hall, followed by Felicity. She pulled him to a small patch of forest, just near the village, and stood before him. Hiccup pulled away from her grasp as Felicity pulled a small knife out of her belt.

"If there's anything I know, is that those people have no idea who I am, and they have no idea what my plan is." She smiled at Hiccup, seeming relaxed. "So if you try anything, little dragon boy, they will think that you murdered me for no reason." She stood there and crossed her arms, leaning against a tree. Hiccup made a sound deep in his throat as she smiled at him, he didn't want to be here, not with two people that have the chance to kill him when they want to.

"Why did you bring me here." He gestured to the dark forest area that they were in, frowning. "To talk to me? No one could hear us in there." He pointed to the way they came from the Great Hall. Erica rolled her eyes, glancing at Felicity, which made Hiccup uneasy. The next thing Hiccup knew, he had his hands tied with a strong rope behind his back and was tied to a large tree. Felicity was quick, even too quick for Hiccup. He tried to step forward, attempting to get out of the bindings he was in, but he couldn't, they were too strong. And also, Felicity had her knife up to his throat.

"We just wanted to show you what we are capable of." Felicity sneered into his ear. He felt truly uncomfortable because he had no shirt on, and also he had no idea where Astrid went off to. He looked at Erica as he felt a gust of wind pass over his chest in the darkness. It was hard to see what was happening, even before his own eyes.

"Great, so you've showed me, now let me go." He lifted his chin up after he said that as Felicity touched the tip of the knife to his throat. He could feel her hot breath against his neck, which was a little disgusting saying he didn't even know her. Erica stood up from the tree and turned around, facing the darkness behind her.

"Come on out, you guys. He can't do anything now." Erica's voice was as dark as the night around them, and was as sharp as Felicity's blade. Hiccup had no idea what she was talking about, but he didn't want to find out. He also knew that she was right, he couldn't do anything. He was tied to a tree with no weapon and, well, no shirt. He could feel the cool tip of the knife against his throat push harder, making his sweat. But Erica turned around with a large smile across her face. "Tying you up was just the beginning." Her voice was thin as cold, like the air whipping her hair around her face. "This is how we are going to show you what we are capable of. And trust me, don't underestimate the power of evil." She sneered as Hiccup shifted his foot on the frosted ground, Felicity's knife threatening to end his life in one, clean slice.

A large man appeared behind Erica, followed by three more the same size. They seemed to be inhuman because of their size, but their faces told Hiccup that they were human also. The last two men were holding something in front of them as they stood beside Erica, but Hiccup couldn't identify it because of the darkness, but one ray of the light from the Greta Hall had escaped and was shining directly on it. Erica grinned as she walked over to the men, taking the thing from their grasp.

"You see?" She said as she came closer to Hiccup with the thing in her arms, Hiccup could see that it was a person. "We can do what we want, and no one can stop us." She threw the person to the ground, letting them crumple into a ball. But they were still breathing, and they didn't seem harmed other then their eyes were closed. Hiccup breathed in sharply.

"Astrid." He muttered. Her eyes fluttered open and she stood up as fast as Thor's lightning itself. "Astrid, I'm right here." Astrid looked at Erica, not paying attention to what Hiccup was saying, and lunged at her. Erica instantly put her hand out, grabbing the girl's throat and lifting her off the ground. Astrid's feet kicked out wildly, trying to get air into her lungs and he get out of Erica's grasp. She grabbed at Erica's hand around her throat, but Erica had a strong grip. Hiccup lurched forward, feeling the sting of pain on his neck as the knife cut a clean scratch across the side of his neck. But his hands were caught in the rope and they tore at the skin on his wrists.

"What is with you and kidnapping my girlfriend?" He growled as Erica threw the girl at Hiccup's feet. Hiccup knelt down, his hands pulled behind him, and looked down as Astrid sat up, gasping for air. Her eye's met Hiccup's before she fell, unconscious, onto the dirt ground. Hiccup suddenly felt his hands being released as the rope was cut away. He didn't have time to thank Felicity for freeing him, but he did have time to pick Astrid up and get her out of there. He gathered her up into his arms and turned to rush away from Erica and the others, but stopped when he heard Erica's words.

"If you tell anyone about this, I won't just kidnap her next time." Hiccup knew that she was telling the truth, and that Erica was capable of doing that. But he wasn't going to let that happen, so he had to keep his mouth shut.

**Wedding Day**

"Hiccup!" Stoick's voice bombed through the house, echoing into the guest room at the top of the stairs. Hiccup sat beside the bed, wearing the clothes that Erica had given him for the wedding. It was different, so he hated it. Everything was different. It was a black tunic with a black pair of pants, a white belt was strapped across his waist, holding the pants up. There was a white string that tied his tunic together and he had a bizarre flower pinned to the tunic over his heart. He had no idea what Erica was doing and what she had in mind for the wedding, only that he hadn't seen her since yesterday when she kidnapped Astrid.

"This is crazy," Hiccup began, looking down at the flower pinned to his black tunic. "I mean, look at this." He turned to face the bed, showing Astrid the flower. Hiccup had told Stoick that she had fallen and hit her head on a rock while walking back to her house, but Hiccup and Astrid both knew that wasn't true. He'd had to find an excuse, because he knew that he couldn't tell them about Erica. But Astrid had hit her head when she fell unconscious, and Stoick said she just needed to rest in bed for a few days. Why she didn't stay at her house was a questionable thing, but Hiccup and Astrid had both thought she should stay at Hiccup's. But she needed to rest for a while to get better.  
Meaning she couldn't attend the wedding.

Astrid hadn't wanted to attend the wedding in the first place, but now she felt like she was missing something bigger. She felt like there was a giant hole in her heart that only Hiccup could fill, and now he was being taken from her by another girl.

"Astrid." Hiccup placed a hand over Astrid's, entangling his fingers with hers. She looked into his eyes and smiled a weak smile, wincing as a small tinge of pain shot through her head. Hiccup moved his other hand up to touch her head, he ran his thumb along her forehead as Astrid leaned her head into his hand. She closed her eyes and let a small tear fall onto his wrist. "I still love you, no matter what." He leaned over and placed his lips to her forehead. He lingered there for a few seconds with his eyes closed. Astrid knew that he was telling the truth, but by going ahead with the wedding he was putting himself in danger.

"I love you too." She whispered with a shaky voice as she lifted her chin only a bit to catch his lips with hers. Hiccup instantly kissed her back before he heard another roar of his fathers voice coming from downstairs. He pulled away and looked down at Astrid. She wasn't her normal self, she wasn't the strong, fearless girl that he once saw her as. She seemed vulnerable and scared. She was scared because she knew that they were all in danger.

"Hiccup!" Stoick's voice made Astrid wince because of it's volume. "Get down here!" He yelled again. Hiccup stood up, looking down at Astrid as he began to move away from her, he could hear her sigh as he opened the door to the room and stepped outside into the hall. He turned his head and looked back at her.

"I'll see you later." He said in a quiet voice before shutting the door behind him and hopping down the stairs. The sound of Stoick's large hand swinging the door open made him jump as he landed on the bottom step and stepped off of the stairs. "Yes?" He said irately, glaring at his father as he stretched his leg. Stoick stood there before the door and motioned to outside, glaring at Hiccup.

"It's time." He said darkly, almost sounding like he couldn't care less that Hiccup didn't want to do this at all. Hiccup rolled his eyes and headed outside towards the Great Hall, followed closely by his father as he pushed through the crowds of people. When he reached the top of the stairs at the Great Hall, he pushed the doors open and stalked to the front of the large room, standing at the front and waiting like Erica had told him to do. She had told him what was going to happen, there was going to be two rings, one for him and one for Felicity, to show that they were together. Hiccup hated the idea, because he knew that wearing that ring around all day after the wedding would make him hate his life even more. He was told that he wasn't allowed to see Felicity before the wedding, and why would he anyways?

Everyone was seated in the benches that were on either side of the room, where everyone in the village was. Hiccup tensed when he saw the men that had been with Erica sitting at the front. But he looked to the doors of the Great Hall as they opened. He wanted to look away, because he knew it was Felicity, but he wasn't allowed to. He watched as Felicity walked in with a long, white skirt on. It was bizarre, they didn't normally have big celebrations for weddings.

Felicity walked to the front so dramatically it made her look stupid. But Hiccup stood facing her as she stood before him, he didn't smile, even though she did. He stood with ease, with no true posture he just let himself stand there, looking at Felicity with disgust. He realized that Erica wasn't there, she was no where to be seen. That made him uneasy. But there was a man saying weird words in their language and in another language. He continued saying those words for a long time. Hiccup wanted this to be over.

**Outside the Great Hall**

Astrid had dragged herself to the bottom of the stairs of the Great Hall, even though her head was pounding with pain, a he had dragged her axe behind her the whole way. She had said to herself that she had to do something to stop this wedding, even if it meant that someone had to be killed. She knew the pain Hiccup was feeling right now, she knew how he felt for her, the whole village did. But she also knew that she couldn't let him go along with this if he had to force himself to. Just last year, Hiccup had told her that nothing could ever tear them apart, no matter how strong a force. And earlier today, he had told her that he would still love her, but there was pain in his voice, a strain that made her feel uncomfortable when he spoke. She knew that he was holding back from killing Erica, and he was holding back to save Astrid.

Because he cared for her more than he cared for himself.

Astrid needed him to care for himself, to think about himself rather than others, for once.  
She took a deep breath before proceeding to place her right foot on the first step. She began to feel a aching pain in her head, threatening to knock her out, but she couldn't. Not now. She continued up the steps, one by one, in a painful pursuit.

"Come on," she breathed, speaking to herself as she hauled her axe behind her, taking another step. "You can rest when you're done. But you're not finished yet." She grunted as she banged her knee on the steps. She looked up at the. Great Hall, seeing that it was only a few more stairs away, maybe only seven steps to go. "Only a bit m–" she felt a hand on her shoulder and spun her head around, too quickly because she felt dizzy. Her grip on her axe tightened as she taught to stay awake, but there was someone standing in front of her. She squinted and tried to see the person. When she did, she moved her other hand to the handle of her axe.

"What would you be doing out of bed, dear Astrid?" Erica's sickening voice rung through her head and made her feel weak. She brought her axe in front of her and faced Erica, pointing the tip of her axe at the woman's neck. She frowned and caught for consciousness. She could see Erica's mouth twitch into an eerie smile, forcing the wrinkles in her forehead to fold. "I'm not here to fight, dear. I'm only here to make sure that everything goes well, and there aren't any interruptions for the wedding." The faint sound of someone speaking words in another language came from inside the Great Hall, Astrid could almost feel the tense feeling of Hiccup's emotions, but she was staring into Erica's eyes. That made her feel even more dizzy.

"And I'm here," Astrid began, breathing heavily. "To make sure that you don't hurt my boyfriend." Astrid winced as a shot of pain stretched through her neck, but she fought it off. Erica rolled her eyes and leaned slightly back as Astrid pushed the tip of her axe to Erica's neck. Astrid frowned and glared at Erica. "And nothing can stop me, no one can stop me, from doing just that." Erica's hand instantly shot up and grabbed the handle of the axe, ripping it out of Astrid's grip and pushing her down onto the stairs. Astrid fell hard, hitting her head on the stone stairs. Her eyelids began to droop, but she wasn't about to give up. Not yet.

"He's not your boyfriend now, is he?" Erica sneered, jamming the axe down so the two, sharp tips were on either side of Astrid's neck. It gave Astrid space to be able to breath, but not enough to move. If she move at least a centimetre in any way, her neck would be sliced cleanly down the middle. Instead of moving, she stared up at Erica as the woman spoke. "Huh, little girl? No," Erica pressed harder on the axe, doing nothing but making it slip and touch the edge of Astrid's neck, scratching it only a bit. But enough to make small dots of blood stain the rock. "He's a married man, now, and he doesn't want you anymore. He's forgotten all about you, and married another girl." Astrid could see black dots at the corner of her eyes, threatening to take her vision. But she lay there with tears rushing down her cheeks and hot blood running from the wound on the side of her neck.

"I'm not a little girl!" Astrid screamed so loud that everyone in the village could probably hear it, but she couldn't tell. She used every last bit of her strength to kick out at Erica's knee. As Erica fell backwards down the steep hill of stairs, Astrid screamed as she felt the axe send a deep, jagged slice onto her cheek to her shoulder to just in between her breasts. She could feel the hot blood running down to her stomach as she sat up and grabbed her axe that Erica had dropped. She took the handle into her grasp and weakly stood up and stared down the steps. Her vision was blurry and there were black dots at the edges of her eyes, but she could still make out the limp figure of Erica's body at the bottom of the steps. Crumpled into a distorted heap. She managed a weak smile before turning towards the Great Hall and climbing the rest of the stairs. She almost topped over as she felt herself falling unconscious, the hot blood running down her face and chest. She reached out her free hand, that wasn't holding her axe, and slammed it onto the door, pushing them open quietly. No one seemed to notice that she walked in, because they were all looking at the front of the Great Hall. Astrid followed everyone's gaze and gasped at what she saw.

Felicity had her eyes closed and was leaning forward to kiss Hiccup. Hiccup's eyes were wide and scared, but he stayed where he was, not leaning backwards or forwards. He just stayed where he was. Astrid breathed heavily and used all of her remaining strength to lift her axe over her head. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, staring straight ahead as she watch Felicity leaning closer to Hiccup, but they were still at least half a foot away from each other.

Astrid let the axe fly over her head as she yelled with the rest of her power.  
As she let it fly, she fell to her knees on the carpet, letting her blood pool onto the floor in front of her.

Everyone's eyes flew to Astrid as she let the axe fly, but their glances soon turned to the front of the room in shock.

The axe had driven squarely into Felicity's side, making the girl's body shoot backwards and hit the wall. Felicity sputtered and breathed her last breath as blood poured from her mouth and onto her white skirt. Astrid could hear voices and feel the footsteps around her, but only saw one thing as she looked up. She could see Hiccup running away from the front of the Great Hall towards her. She could hear his voice, and she reached out a hand to him as he quickly came to her side.

"Astrid!" His voice rung through her head as the blurs around her began to turn into black blotches. Her vision was leaving her quickly, but she had to stay awake. She could feel Hiccup's arms wrap around her, holding her to his chest as he spoke into her ear. She closed her eyes. "Astrid, why did you have to do this." His voice was shaky, but more clear now, she opened her eyes and looked around. Everything was less blurry now, and she could see Stoick and another Viking standing before her and Hiccup as he held her against him as they sat on the floor. She could see Hiccup's face, it seemed to be in a vulnerable state. He seemed to be scared.

He was scared that he was going to lose her.

Astrid lifted her hand to touch his face, which made him take her hand in his. She smiled at him, sighing as she felt herself being lifted off the ground. Hiccup had lifted her up and was holding her now, and he was running out of the Great Hall. She could hear Gobber's voice booming as he followed Hiccup. Astrid knew that Gobber was one of the only other people that respected and understood the true love that was shared between Astrid and Hiccup, so he stayed with them, helping Hiccup get Astrid to safety.

"She needs medical attention! Get the healing tonic's and medication! Bandages! Anything ya can find!" Gobber's voice rung through her ears along with Hiccup's breathing as he ran to his house. They seemed to reach the house in no time, and she was already in the bed in the guest room.

No, she wasn't in the guest bed.

She was in Hiccup's bed.

Hiccup lightly set her down into the bed, quickly grabbing a cloth from beside his bed from when he was sick. There was still some medication there from before, but not enough to help Astrid right away. But he grabbed the cloth and began to lightly dab at the cut on her cheek and chest, cleaning it up from the blood. Astrid winced as she felt a sting of pain as Hiccup dabbed away at the cuts. She heard Gobber rush in and then clatter multiple things onto the table. She then felt a large hand on her stomach.

"Sorry, hun, the cuts too big." Gobber said quietly to Astrid. "We're gonna need to remove yer shirt for this." She felt a sudden gust of air on her stomach and chest as Gobber used a small knife to cut off her shirt. She would have flushed bright red, but she had lost a lot of blood, so she was pale at the moment. She could then feel a sting on her chest again, and from the smell, she assumed it was a healing medicine or tonic. She winced as she felt Hiccup's hand on her bear stomach, knowing she shouldn't be embarrassed.

"Don't worry, you're gonna live. I promise." She could hear Hiccup's clear voice as she felt another tinge of pain on her chest. She assumed that he was using the needle and string to stitch her wounds together. It couldn't have been Gobber, that old man couldn't sew anything if his life depended on it. Then she felt something cool drip against her stomach, but it wasn't the drop of blood. It was a tear.

Hiccup's tear.

She stared at the ceiling, pushing herself to stay awake as she tried to speak.  
"Y-you're crying." She croaked out of a dry throat, feeling the sting on her cheek as she spoke. Hiccup quickly tied off the string on her chest wound and moved to her cheek, placing a hand on her pachinko to move her face to face him. She could see him smile as he wiped something away from his cheek with his sleeve.

"Yeah, well you're bleeding to death." He sounded happy that she couldn't speak, but he also knew that she wouldn't be alive for much longer if he didn't completely stop the bleeding in her wounds. He finished closing her wound on her cheek and set down the needle, grabbing the cloth and dipping it in water, then proceeding to place it onto her cheek. Astrid clenched her eyes shut as she felt a sting of pain. But it disappeared as quickly as it came. She opened her eyes and looked up at Hiccup.

He had his eyes locked on her eyes, and was smiling as his hand slid with the cloth to touch her shoulder. He proceeded to go down to just above her chest, and then hesitated as he kept his gaze on her eyes. She could see his face flush red. She smiled, let out a painful giggle, and then lifted her hand and placed it on his. She held his hand with hers and slowly moved it down the cut on her chest. Their eyes stayed locked on each other until the cloth reached the end of the cut. Then Hiccup placed the cloth on the table and took Astrid's hand into his. He reached for a small blanket and carefully draped it over Astrid's chest, covering her chest. He pressed his lips to her hand and lingered them there, looking into her eyes.

"Astrid, if you died–" Hiccup said, breaking the silence, but Astrid cut him off.

"But I'm right here." She smiled up at him with her big, blue eyes. Hiccup closed his eyes and smiled against her hand. Astrid pulled her hand away and tried to smile bigger, but her cheek prevented her from doing so. She winced, closing her eyes and felt a cold hand against her other cheek, cupping it. When she opened her eyes she saw Hiccup leaning forward over her. She stared at his collar bones and shoulders as he place his lips to her forehead, making something deep inside her stomach flutter. The flutter was a feeling she couldn't describe. It was like a wanting for something, something she knew she was there, but couldn't have.

Something that had filled the hole in her heart.

She reached up and entwined her fingers into Hiccup's hair, feeling less pain now that the pain tonic was kicking in. Hiccup's lips trailed down her face, kissing her nose, then to her lips. She could still feel the slight sting on her cheek, but her cheek was just a scratch, it wouldn't even leave a scar when it healed. Hiccup's lips were lightly kissing hers, just to be pre-cautious so she didn't get hurt. Astrid felt no pain, only a sting from the cut on her chest, but still she brought her other arm up and placed it on the front of Hiccup's chest, pushing him away. He seemed confused, in a cute way, and he sat back down into the chair beside the bed.

"Maybe after I get better, okay? Right now I need to rest." Astrid closed her eyes and fell straight to sleep, no questions asked.

"Okay." Hiccup whispered, kissing her on the forehead before leaving the room. He quickly bounded down the stairs and headed for the door. He hadn't realized he had been sewing Astrid up for so long, it was already becoming dark. When he opened the door, he found his dad standing before him, glaring down at him. Hiccup raised one eyebrow and looked around, watching as the whole village rushed around, bumping into one another. "Something wrong?" He said, stepping backwards as his father moved into the house and slammed the door. Stoick was as red as a tomato, and he was sweating. He must have been running, fast.

"Is something wrong?" He said, his tone rough, as he bent down a bit towards Hiccup. "Is something wrong!" He roared. Hiccup's eyes flew open in shock as he stepped backwards, away from his father. He hoped that his father didn't wake Astrid. Stoick pointed a finger to the door. "Astrid was bleeding to death! She threw an axe and killed Felicity! And Erica the Flawless is crumpled, dead, at the bottom of the stairs at the Great Hall!" He shouted at Hiccup, grabbing at the front of his black tunic, the white flower covered in Astrid's blood. "Explain that!" He screeched once more before lifting Hiccup off of the ground with his one hand. Hiccup frowned and struggled free of Stoick's grip, tumbling backwards onto the wooden floor as his father stared down at him. He sighed, standing up and wiping himself off.

He stared up at his dad, ready to let all of his anger out, but he stayed calm. "Dad," he began. "Remember the other day when I was on my death bed because someone had kidnapped Astrid and wanted me and Toothless?" He raised his eyebrows, but Stoick's expression stayed the same. He was still angry, and probably so was the whole village because two people just died. "That was Erica." He pointed out, and his father's expression completely changed. His face was now expressionless, Hiccup couldn't tell if he was angry or happy, or sad or anything, really. "I didn't tell you guys because she threatened to kill Astrid."

"And so you'd rather save someone you love than save yourself." The man said, staring off into the distance. Stoick's voice had calmed down as he watched Hiccup speak. Hiccup instantly smiled, silently thanking the gods that his father didn't kill him first.

"Thank Thor, so you understand?" He said happily, Stoick stared down at his son for a long time before speaking. But eventually he smiled, placing a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Yes," he began, looking at Hiccup as the boy smiled. "I understand that Astrid did that to save you, and would risk her life just to do it. The blood on those stairs are Astrid's, because there are no cuts or punctures anywhere where Erica had fallen, only at the bottom where she lay at the moment." Stoick looked out of the window to the house, watching as Gobber stalked back to his house to get a bucket of water to wash the blood from the Great Hall and it's steps. "I am sorry," he took a hold of Hiccup's shoulders. "That I didn't see how much you loved each other before." He smiled down at his son as Hiccup grinned slightly, raising his eyebrows.

"I was beginning to think her and I were the only one's who knew." He said quietly, looking down at the ground as he shifted his false foot against the floor. It made a scuffing noise and Stoick smiled, placing his giant hand onto Hiccup's shoulder.

"Son," he began, shifting his hand through Hiccup's hair and messing it up. He pulled his hand away as Hiccup fixed his hair, looking up at his dad. "I have to tell you something." His voice was softer now, but it still had it's rough edges, and Hiccup could hear his accent, thicker as ever.

Hiccup nodded, running a hand through his hair and placing his other hand on his hip. He raised his eyebrows as he looked at his dad. "I have found that I have become too old for some of the chiefing things I do around the village." He paused, half smiling as Hiccup's eyebrows dropped to normal. "And I'm not young anymore." They both giggled as Stoick said that with a joking grin. "But I think it' sit me this village has a fresh, young, new chief." He placed his hand on Hiccup's shoulder again, bending down a bit to stare into his son's eyes. Hiccup's eyes seemed to jump into a brighter state at that very moment, because the next thing he knew, he was smiling and pointing to himself.

"Me? A chief?" He laughed sarcastically. "I wonder what you would have thought about that idea when I was fourteen. Before I killed the Red Death, you seemed to think I was just another toothpick walking around the village." Stoick laughed his big, jolly laugh, and tapped his fingers to his helmet. He smiled down at Hiccup.

"My mind was changed that very day." He sighed loudly, breathing into Hiccup's face. Hiccup stepped backwards and frowned, coughing a little. "But really, son, in pass my chief duties on to you." He reached behind him and picked up a small belt from the desk behind him, handing it to Hiccup. Hiccup took it and stared at it.

"What is this?" He said, brushing his fingers over the metal circle on the belt, it had Berk's dragon crest on it. He smiled.

"I had Gobber make it for ya." He playfully punched Hiccup in the shoulder. When Hiccup was fourteen, that would have knocked him over completely, but now it only made him stagger backwards. "Every chief has a belt with their tribe crest on it, now you're the chief." He jokingly saluted Hiccup as the boy looked at the belt in his hands.

"Maybe I should change into my real clothes." Hiccup grimaced, looking down at his blood-stained clothes as she gestured to the belt. "Then I can wear this." His father nodded and smiled at his son as Hiccup mounted the stairs to his bedroom.

"You do that, chief."

Hiccup opened the door to his bedroom, where Astrid was sleeping, and quickly slipped in. He quickly changed into his everyday clothes, without all of the armour, and tied the belt around his waist. He knew it was very short notice, and at a weird time, that his father offered him the chief position, but he also knew that his father was getting to be very old.

**Three Years Later**

Hiccup became chief, only at the age of eighteen, and lead the village extremely well. He was twenty one now, and everyone looked up to him. Gobber had mentioned once that he may as well have been a better chief than his father. But Stoick said otherwise, even if the old man was working along side Gobber in his friend's blacksmiths shop now. Astrid had gotten better and only had a thin, white, scar line down her stomach to show how hard she fought. She had taken over the Dragon Academy and had been working with the other Viking eighteen year olds to help keep all of Berk's dragons in check and make sure they were behaving. The twins had become fairly good at medicine, that was a big surprise to everyone, and they helped fix up the dragons when they were sick or hurt.

But the thing was, a few weeks ago, Hiccup was asked by the tribe to make peace with the tribe the dead Erica was from. There was only one problem with that, the tribe's island was just under a month and a half's voyage by ship, and Hiccup wasn't planning on coming by dragon. The tribe would have shot them down if they did. So instead, he decided to sign a peace treaty with the tribe and then introduce them to Toothless. They had left upon notice of the tribes suggestion, saying their goodbyes just at noon that day.

He had kissed Astrid goodbye, and then she watched his ship disappear over the horizon.

The whole village had been told it was only going to be a two and a half month voyage, and they would be back after that. But it was leading into three months. Everyone was beginning to get worried.

Especially Astrid.


	6. Love Is Not Embarrassing

Astrid was standing in the centre of the Dragon Academy arena with Stormfly and a few Terrible Terrors. She had been giving the dragonsof the Academy a bath for a few hours now, with the help of many buckets of water and a really big towel. She had finished up with all of the dragons except for the Terrors, as they kept running around the arena like a bunch of chickens. Some of them were even floating around the air and clinging to the metal grading ceiling. She had liked to be alone for the last few weeks after she began to get worried about Hiccup not returning. She knew that being the chief was a bug deal, and that he'd had no choice but to leave. Even if it meant he would be gone for a really long time.

She ran up behind one of the Terrors, grabbing it's tail and dragging it into her lap so she could dump a bucket of water on it and wash it with a towel. She didn't mind if she was soaking wet any more, she had already bathed a Gronckle, so getting wet wasn't a problem any more. The Terror jumped up and ran away as Astrid dried it off with the towel. She watched as it ran to go with the group of other Terrors that she had already washed. They were standing by each other, admiring their clean, new scales. Astrid Hofferson sighed and stood up, running silently over to another Terror and doing the same with it, letting it join the others so it could show off it's beauty.

A small, yellow-green Terror walked right up to her, sitting in her lap and snuggling against her to close it's eyes. She smiled and put down the bucket of water, placing her hand on the Terror's back, smoothing it's scales. Stormfly slowly walked over and sat down behind Astrid, giving her something to lean on. Astrid turned her head to reach over and rub Stormfly's head.

"Thanks, girl." She said quietly as the Terror turned in her lap, snuggling into the leather flaps of her skirt. It didn't seem to mind that there were spikes lining against its back, but then again, it's had it's own spikes. Astrid looked up at the sky, it was evening so the sky was a dark pink-purple-orange. The clouds seemed like they were painted in the sky, just for show. But they were big, real and beautiful. They were the exact colour that the clouds were when Hiccup first took Astrid flying, when she first realized that Hiccup wasn't just the skinny, useless boy she had always though he was. Now she was sitting here and wishing desperately that he was safe.

She closed her eyes and leaned against Stormfly as the dragon smoothed its tail spikes and wrapped it's tail in a circle on the ground around Astrid.

A sound came from outside the arena.

Astrid opened her eyes and saw the door of the arena being opened, followed by all of the Terrors shooting that way and flying out, heading to their owners house. Stormfly looked up at the door and made a squeaking noise as the Terror in Astrid's lap shot up and flew out as well. Astrid could see someone rushing into the arena towards her, and she stood up, leaning against Stormfly.

"Yes?" Astrid said, dusting herself off. Her clothes were completely soaked but her hair was perfectly fine. Now she would always keep her hair down, and not in a braid, but it would still hang in front of her eyes all the time. "What is it?" She asked as the person came out of the shadows of the night.

It was Ruffnut.

In the past couple years, Ruffnut and Astrid had grown to be good friends. That may have been because they were the only girls the same age as each other. And twenty one was fairly old. They were the type of friends who hung out and did things together, who made fun of the guys and teased them. They would play jokes on Tuffnut all the time. Ruffnut had also grown to be prettier than she was when she was eighteen. But Astrid knew that her friend would never be as pretty as herself, so she didn't pose a threat.

"Ruff?" Astrid stepped towards Ruffnut, smiling as her friend grinned a large smile towards her. "What's going on? Why are you so happy?" She crossed her arms and grinned, raising an eyebrow as Ruffnut walked towards her and took ahold of Astrid's shoulders, pulling her into an hug. Astrid gasped as Ruffnut did this, and hesitated to hug her back, but she did anyways. "Ruff?" She said tensely as she hugged her back lightly, but Ruffnut squeezed her and then let her go. He hands still holding Astrid's shoulders. Astrid pulled away from Ruffnut and said more rougher this time. "What?" She said as Ruffnut took a deep breath.

"Astrid," Ruffnut began in her normal deep, rough voice. "The boats." She said, smiling largely at Astrid. Astrid frowned and raised one eyebrow. She stared at Ruffnut.

"What boats?" She said, hoping that a tribe wasn't coming to attack, because that would be a possibility. Ruffnut still did like anything that meant destruction. "What do you mean?" She said more clearer that time, shaking her head and frowning. Ruffnut sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Hiccup's ship had returned, Astrid." Astrid froze as the words left the girl's lips, staring past her at the door. She didn't even stop to thank Ruffnut for telling her, but she ran as fast as she could out the door of the arena, leaving Stormfly behind. She ran up the paths and hills to the village, the proceeding to stumble quickly through the crowds of people who were headed to the docks. She was out of breath and cloud feel her heart thumping inside her chest, threatening to jump out of her any second. She ran quickly up to the fence door that was at the beginning of the pathway to the docks, and completely hurdled over it, doing a front roll and then standing back up again. She stopped for a slips second to look down at the docks.

There was a boat docked there.

Hiccup's boat.

And she could see Toothless jumping out of the boat after a few other men that Hiccup had taken with him. Stoick was following Toothless, trying to calm him down. She couldn't see Hiccup, but could tell he was there because Toothless wouldn't leave the docks.

She began to run again, jumping over the fences that separated two paths front along side each other, and skidding at every corner to turn. She ran as fast as she could to the beginning of the docks, driving through the small crowd of men returning from the trip on Hiccup's ship, also. When she exited the crowd of large men, she stared ahead of her as Stoick walked up to her. He smiled down at her, pointing behind him as he walked past her.

She was breathing hard and fast, and could feel her heart beating faster and faster.

She saw someone jumping off of the boat.

They walked over and placed a hand on Toothless' back, patting him to make him waddle off past Astrid.

It was Hiccup.

His eyes met hers.

Astrid began to run again, she ran faster than before, because she knew that she would have someone waiting for her at the destination she was headed for. Hiccup had dropped a bag that he had slung over his shoulder, and was staring at Astrid, his arms open, ready for her to reach him. Astrid breathed one last breath before she reached him.

It almost seemed fake, the moment was so perfect. Astrid ran into Hiccup's arms and he lifted her off the ground in a warm, spinning embrace. His arms were wrapped around her waist and her arms were draped around his shoulders, her fingers running through his hair. Their lips were pressed firmly together as Hiccup spun Astrid around, her feet hovering, not touching the wooden deck. He let her down lightly but kept his lips pressed against hers, their eyes closed as their eyelashes brushed against each other's cheeks.

Astrid sighed as she opened her eyes and looked up at Hiccup, staring deep into his beautiful green eyes. They seemed to make her feel like she was dreaming. She smiled and placed her hands on either side of Hiccup's face, cupping his cheeks with her palms as her thumbs ran across his cheekbones. She stood up on her toes and kissed him quickly once more before speaking. She smiled.

"Welcome home." Hiccup smiled as Astrid said that, pressing his lips to the top of her head as she sighed. They stayed like that for a few seconds, their hands wrapped around each other.

"So, are you gonna bring that bag up to the village?" Tuffnut's voice startles them and makes the two look in the direction his voice came from. Tuffnut stand there with Ruffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs, the four of them smiling and giggling as they practically stalked the two love birds as they made out. "Or are you gonna keep eating each other's faces?" Tuffnut finished, snickering at the two as Ruffnut stepped forward out of the group to walk towards Hiccup and Astrid. She smiled and crossed her arms as she stood in front of the two embracing.

"Ruffnut," Hiccup began, turning to the girl that stood before him and Astrid. "I'm not in the mood for any of your stupid–" Ruffnut put her hand out to stop Hiccup from talking, making him frown. He was about to finish his sentence when she began to speak.

"I'm done with all of that stuff." Her voice was calm and smooth, even though there was a guilty grin set on her face. "I wanted to say, welcome home." She smiled at Hiccup, watching as his expression changed from slightly pissed off to surprised. He breathed in quickly, nodding to Ruffnut and smiling.

"Well, uh," he began, smiling softly. "Thanks, I'm glad to be back." He slipped his fingers into Astrid's hand and entwined her fingers with his. Astrid smiled a bit, looking down at the ground. Snotlout rolled his eyes.

"You know you guys just made out in front of the whole village, right?" Snotlout laughed softly and turned around, looking up at the multiple people standing behind Stoick at the top of the hill. They were all staring down at all of the twenty one year olds at the dock, waiting to welcome their chief back home. Hiccup blushed a little, knowing that almost everyone in the village watched their chief kiss Astrid Hofferson. On the other hand, Astrid was completely fine with it, and nudged Hiccup when she saw that he was blushing, making him look at her.

"What?" He croaked as the rest of their friends laughed quietly and walked away. Astrid frowned at Hiccup, grabbing his hand and leaning against him as they began to walk forward. She smiled up at him.

"You're embarrassed to be seen with me." She said, still frowning as Hiccup sucked in a breath. He quickly looked down at her, continuing to walk forward.

"No," he said casually, swinging Astrid's hand with his. "I'm not." Astrid smiled and bumped him with her shoulder, making him slightly stumble, but not much since he was a lot taller and stronger now.

"Yeah, you are. You blushed back there." Astrid said to Hiccup after she nudged him. Hiccup smiled and nudged Astrid back, making her stumble to the side, almost falling. But Hiccup quickly grabbed her tiny waist and caught her before she could hit the ground. She was holding her waist with one hand, suspending her off of the ground as he leaned over her, his nose touching hers. His other hand was holding her thigh so her legs was wrapped against his waist. Astrid's shocked expression wove itself into a smile, just before Hiccup stared her straight in the eye and spoke.

"I am not embarrassed to be with you, Astrid." He said, leaving his face in a serious expression that made Astrid's heart melt when she looked into his deep green eyes. "I love you." He whispered those words before pushing his lips to hers for a few quick seconds, enough to make that fluttery feeling return to Astrid's stomach for a short time. She closed her eyes and felt herself being lifted up by Hiccup again, so she was standing up straight in front of him. She stared up into his eyes and smiled a large smile, grabbing his hand and turning around to see the crowd of people had minimized because they were walking away at this point. But Stoick stood, smiling down at his son and Astrid, watching as the two of them walked up the wooden stairs to the top of the hill, hand in hand.

Gobber had stayed behind as well, and he stood behind Stoick and also watched the two love birds walk up together, kissing and talking as they walked.

"Can I trust ya with something, Gobber?" Stoick said, tilting his head only a bit to speak to Gobber, but still keeping his eyes on the chief and the girl. Gobber waddled up to stand beside Stoick, shaking his head and smiling as he looked down at Hiccup and Astrid.

"You know it, Stoick." Gobber said, whacking his hand on Stoick's back. That would have probably given one of the twenty one year olds a concussion, maybe even knocked them out, but it didn't do anything to harm Stoick. "Anything for my new apprentice."

Stoick rolled his eyes and shot a look at Gobber, letting him know that he didn't like the title of an apprentice after having the title of chief for so many years of his life. Gobber laughed quietly to himself and looked at Stoick as he continued to tell him what he was going to say.

"Gobber, we confronted with a man on the other island, who said he made rings. Like the ones that Erica wanted to make Felicity and Hiccup to share." Stoick said, turning to his old friend and raising an eyebrow as he spoke. Gobber stood there, his eyes relaxed and his hand at his sides. Gobber shrugged and shook his head.

"And you don't want me to tell anyone that because?" Gobber said sarcastically as he frowned, staring at Stoick like he was crazy. Stoick sighed, rolling his eyes and silently praying to Thor and asking why Gobber had to be so clueless at a time like this. He stood before his friend, his hands on Gobber's shoulders.

"Gobber, Hiccup is going to ask Astrid to marry him, and he will give her a ring. The one that the man showed Hiccup how to make." Gobber's eyes suddenly flew open as did his mouth. But right after, his mouth twisted into a large smile. He swung his fist into the air.

"Well, why don't we use the traditions that Erica showed us. Those ones are much better than just announcing that you're married." Gobber turned and began down the trail to the Blacksmith shop, to get back to his daily jobs. Stoick smiled to himself, looking to his right as he saw Hiccup and Astrid walking towards the house, hand in hand, both of them smiling. Stoick turned and followed Gobber back to the shop, to begin his daily jobs once more, to get back into the groove of things.

"So, did I miss anything while I was gone?" Hiccup swung Astrid's hand with his as they walked the path back to the house. Being gone for three months didn't take away someone's memory of how to get to their house. But what it do was make them miss important things that happened while they were gone. Astrid leaned her head against Hiccup's shoulder, pulling his hand up with her two hands to place his palm on her cheek. Hiccup smiled down at her.

"Well," Astrid sighed, kicking a small rock with her boot so it flung into a patch of grass. "Guess who got married." She asked, pushing him to guess. Hiccup tried not to blush, hiding the fact that he had the ring in a pocket in his leather armour. He smiled down at Astrid again.

"Let me think." He paused, staring upwards and thinking as he lightly squeezed Astrid's hand. "Snotlout." Hiccup laughs to himself after he said that, thinking that it would be just a joke. Astrid grins when he laughs to himself, frowning.

"Yes," she began, making Hiccup frown and give her a look. But before he could speak, she continued. "And Fishlegs. They are married and they both live with their wife." She smiled, knowing that both Hiccup and her were thinking that that could never have happened. But it did, and it was true. Hiccup looked forward as he pulled Astrid up the stairs to his house.

"Well, good for them." He pushed the door to the house open, Astrid holding tightly onto his arm, and sighed. As he stepped into the house with Astrid, he looked around at the room, someone had cleaned the place up, so it was neater than when he had left. He gawked at the room, looking down at Astrid. "Is my father still living here? It seems, well, clean." He gestures to the whole room, still looking into Astrid's light blue eyes.

"Actually, he moved in with Gobber in the blacksmith's shop, just to get more into his job." Astrid smiled and shook her head, looking back into the house. "So I guess it's all yours." Hiccup stared at Astrid as she looked around the house, his mouth twitching into a smile as she let a small breath leave her lips. He shook his head and spoke.

"Hm, I wouldn't have thought that he would move out." Hiccuo walked into the house, pulling Astrid behind him, up the stairs, into his room and standing beside the bed. Astrid leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, breathing quietly as she smiled. "Well, I can't live here all alone, I would be terribly lonely." He said, hoping Astrid would notice, she did, but not as he expected.

"Well, don't worry, I'll visit." Astrid mumbled, her eyes still closed. Hiccup sighed and reached his hand forward, taking Astrid's small hand into his. Astrid opened her eyes at his sudden gesture and looked up at him. "What?" She said, frowning as her eyebrows furrowed. Her hair had been let down, so it hung around her shoulders in light waves.

"Astrid," he began, turning to face her as he held her hands between his. He placed their hands to his chest, making Astrid flush with a small amount of colour in her cheeks. "I don't want you to have to visit me. Because," he trailed off, stopping as he regained his confidence to ask her. Even if he had grown up and was older, doesn't mean that he wasn't still that small, vulnerable boy that he used to be. Astrid looked down at their hands, smiling. "I have known you for most of my life, Astrid, and I have loved you all that time." Astrid looked up from their hands, tangled together, and looked at Hiccup. Her smile faded as she stared deep into his dark, green eyes. "I have almost lost you many times, and those times have been the times where I have been the most scared in my life." He paused and looked back into Astrid's eyes. Their eyes were so different, but that was what made them so perfect together. "And I don't want to risk losing you to someone else. Because I know for a fact that they will not love you as much as I love you."

"Hiccup–" Astrid began, frowning, but she stopped because Hiccup let go of her hand and reached into his pocket. He pulled something out and showed it to her.

It was the ring.

"Astrid Hofferson," he said in a straight tone, but quietly as Astrid smiled at him. "Would you do me the honour of being my wife?" The room seemed to go completely silent, as if the whole world was listening, trying to hear what was going to happen next. Hiccup's heart was racing in anticipation, but Astrid's heart was racing for a different reason.

The moment seemed to go by so quick, Hiccup had little time to react. Astrid's arms flung around Hiccup's shoulders and her fingers tangled into his hair. She rested her head softly in the crook of his neck, her eyes closed. It was hard for Hiccup to hear, but he could just make out the whisper that reached his ear as Astrid spoke.

"Yes."

Hiccup smiled, closing his eyes and wrapping his hands around Astrid, keeping her against him, not want to lose her warmth. Astrid pulled away only a bit to look into his eyes. She smiled. Any girl would have cried if she was proposed to, but not Astrid. Astrid was still Astrid after all. The ring slid onto Astrid's finger in one, swift motion as Hiccup's hand moved forward. It shocked Astrid at first, but when she realized what it was, she smiled, staring at it.

It was a small, metal ring that was a small circle around Astrid's finger. On top of it was a rock. It was tiny, but visible. But it wasn't just any rock, it was something more. It was a piece of a Deadly Nadder's tail spike that was carved into a dragon, or, two dragons. There was a Deadly Nadder and a Night Fury craved into the hard material. The night fury was painted with black, and the Nadder was a light blue. But the eyes of the dragons were painted the colours of their eyes. Of Astrid and Hiccup's eyes. The Nadder's eyes were an extremely light blue, and the Night Fury's eyes were a dark green.

"Oh, Hiccup." Astrid sighed, staring at the ring. Her eyes lifted to look at Hiccup. "Where did you get this?" She said quietly, smiling.

"I made it." Hiccup shrugged, looking at the floor. He blushed, making Astrid roll her eyes.

"You did it again." She said in a rougher tone this time. It shocked Hiccup, making him frown and look up at her.

"What?" He said. "What did I do?"

"You blushed." She said, squinting her eyes and smiling at Hiccup. "You're embarrassed." Hiccup smiled back, reaching forward and placing his palm on her cheek, cupping it softly. He leaned forward as Astrid just sat there, staring at him. As his nose touched hers, he looked into her eyes, deeply and lovingly.

"I am not," he paused. "Embarrassed." His voice was soft and quiet. He pushed his lips forward slowly, just brushing them against Astrid's lips so that they barely touched. They stayed with their lips barely touching for a few seconds before Hiccup opened his eyes and looked out the window, the sun was setting and the sky was a beautiful orange. He smiled and looked back to Astrid, seeing that her eyes were still closed as their foreheads were pressed together. He could feel her chest rise and fall against his as she breathed. As she opened her eyes, she smiled. Hiccup held onto her and they fell onto the bed together, still holding each other. Their eyes were both in the same vision of each other's, they were staring into each other's eyes.

"I love you." Hiccup breathed as he moved his hand onto Astrid's side, brushing his little finger against the top of her skirt. Astrid smiled, not blushing, because, well, she's Astrid.

"I love you more." Astrid said before she slowly moved forward, carefully tilting her head only a bit to fit her mouth to Hiccup's. She closed her eyes as Hiccup lightly kissed her, carefully moving his hand to the small of her back. Astrid smiled against his mouth as she felt his hand touch the skin just beneath her shirt. She lifted her hand up and ran it slowly through Hiccup's soft, brown hair, her other hand pressed against his chest, tracing the muscles with her fingers. Hiccup kissed the side of Astrid's mouth, teasing her with a light kiss. Astrid instantly, being the girl she is, turned her head and caught Hiccup's lips with hers again, bringing him back down to the bed.

Astrid lifted her leg so it wrapped around Hiccup's waist, pressing her firmly against him. She could feel the muscles in his chest and back tighten as she pressed up against him. She smiled against his lips, making him smile too. Her heart was beating extremely fast right now, so she was running out of breath. Hiccup's lips instantly went to her cheek, trailing from there to her collar bone. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she felt his soft, warm lips touch her bare, pale skin. She tilted her head back as he continued to trail up her neck, kissing her jawline and lingering there. Her leg tightened against his waist as he kissed her, she breathed out sharply against his hair. Her fingers were tangled in his hair, her other hand still tracing his muscles.

Hiccup brought his lips back up to Astrid's, just brushing his lip against hers. Hiccup and Astrid stayed like that, their lips slightly parted, for a few seconds before Astrid spoke.

"Wow, you were never like this before." Astrid said, smiling as she opened her eyes and looked at Hiccup as he opened his. Hiccup ran his fingers along Astrid's spine, making her shiver.

"Three months away from the ones you love does things to people." Hiccup smiled as Astrid pushed him so he was lying on his back. She then proceeded to sit up, straddling him, and staring into his eyes. She placed both of her hands on his chest as she grinned, leaning down only a bit so that her nose touched his.

"What things?" She asked quietly. Hiccup reached his hands up, trailing them up her thighs and onto her hips. He smiled, just before he flipped Astrid over in one quick, silky motion, so now he was staring down at her. Her legs were still wrapped around his waist, pulling him down. Astrid reached up and wrapped her hands around Hiccup's back, gripping one of the leather straps from his armour and untying it. She let the front part of the armour fall onto her, then she threw it off to the side. Hiccup smiled, realizing what she was doing, and quickly pulled the last part of his armour off, leaving him in his tunic. Astrid smiled, curling her fingers into the bottom hem of his tunic, pulling it up and over his head. She tossed the tunic to the side, letting it fall beside the pile of his armour. She slid her fingers softly over his skin and, again, placed both of her hands on his chest. Hiccup shuddered at her touch, her soft fingers tickling his chest as they slid over his skin.

"You're cold." He whispered as he leaned down, making his forehead rest against Astrid's. His hand reached to the side and he pulled one of the blankets up that was folded on the side of the bed. He fell sideways so that Astrid was beside him, still staring into his eyes. The blanket was now wrapped around them both. Astrid sighed, gripping the side of the blanket.

"Thank you." She smiled as she looked into Hiccup's eyes and she felt her heart flutter. Hiccup frowned.

"What's with you and staring into my eyes? Is there something wrong?" Hiccup laughed, placing his hand on Astrid's side and pulling her closer to him so their chests were pressed together. They could feel each other's breathing patterns.

"Nothing's wrong, I just," Astrid began, sighing. "I get lost in them sometimes." She whispered, reaching her hand up and trailing her finger along Hiccup's forehead, moving a piece of hair out of his eyes. She leaned forward and lightly kissed his forehead, closing her eyes. Hiccup lifted his chin only a small amount to fit his lips with Astrid's lips.

It was like they were made for each other, they fit perfectly together, like those two puzzle pieces that you can always fit together. The one that is so easily fit into the spots of the other. They spent the rest of the night together, in the small bed, that was normally meant for one person. The bond of love between Astrid and Hiccup was the most love anyone in the village has seen since Stoick and his wife. Rumour has it that it runs in chief's blood to find the one person who you will always love, even if they leave you, the bond between the two will never be broken. But anyways.

Love is the strongest force known in the world.

**One Year Later**

Ruffnut stood at the door of the chief's house, knocking away on the door with her fist. She had been standing there with a small basket for about a minute, waiting for someone to answer. She had seen Hiccup return to the house so she knew that he was there. And Astrid had to be there, she couldn't just leave her alone.

The door swung open quickly, making Ruffnut stumble away from it. She stared up at Hiccup, who was glaring down at her. She smirked, lifting the basket up to Hiccup's face. In it were a few yellow and pink flowers.

"I'm here to see Astrid, so don't kill me." She spat, Hiccup frowned, rolling his eyes and opened the door wider, turning around and walking into the house.

"Follow me." He groaned as he mounted the stairs and walked into the room at the top of the stairs. It used to be his room, but now it was different. As he entered the room, Ruffnut right behind him, he walked up behind Astrid, who was facing the window at the other side of the room, watching the sky become dark. Hiccup lightly placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Ruff's here." He whispered into her ear. Astrid didn't move, she stayed staring out the window. Hiccup smiled against her cheek and turned to stand at the door, leaving Ruffnut standing the the middle of the room.

"Hey, Astrid." Ruffnut said quietly, stepping forward as she looked down at the basket in her arm. The flowers were still in good condition, and she had already put them in a vase. So she set the vase on a small table beside her. She looked up as Astrid turned around. She was smiling, and she looked better than she did three months ago. Her hair was up, wound into a bun against the back of her head, but strands were falling out of it loosely. Her face had more colour than it did before, and her eyes seemed to be brighter. But Ruffnut's eyes glanced to what Astrid was holding. She stepped forward and placed her hand on Astrid's shoulder.

"Oh, Astrid." She sighed, smiling and setting her basket down on the floor. Astrid held the thing she had in her arms tightly, but soft enough so that she would hurt it.

It was a baby.

A baby girl.

"Have you and Hiccup picked out a name for her yet?" Ruffnut said, smiling as Astrid shrugged. Astrid's eyes fluttered as she spoke.

"Yes." She smiled down at the sleeping child in her arms, then looked up at Hiccup as he stood in the doorway. Hiccup smiled at her, glancing down at the child in her arms. Astrid smiled down at the small, sleeping girl, brushing her finger against the child's soft cheek. "Aneira." Astrid said, looking down at the child. Ruffnut smiled as Astrid spoke the name.

"It's pretty." She said, and turned her head when she felt Hiccup brush past her, standing beside Astrid and running his thumb along Aneira's head.

"I think she'll have brown hair." He said quietly, looking down at her hair. It was a darker colour, and certainly wouldn't turn out to be blonde like Astrid's hair. Astrid nodded and smiled up at Hiccup, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I have to go guys, this was just a drop in." Ruffnut said, smiling and backing out of the room. She had picked up her basket and was holding it in the crook of her elbow. "Fishlegs invited you guys to an after dinner party tonight, at the Great Hall. After the sun sets and when it'a dark." She looked out the window. "Which it already is." She backed out of the door slowly and carefully. "If you're feeling okay, I'll see you guys there." Without another word, Ruffnut rushed down the stairs and left the house.

"Do you wanna go?" Hiccup whispered to Astrid as they turned back to look out of the window. He placed his hands on her hips and his chin just near her ear. Astrid smiled, sighing, and leaned her head back to rest it in the crook of Hiccup's neck. Aneira wiggled slightly, turning in Astrid's arms. Astrid and Hiccup had begun to become worried for the little girl. She was not as large as the other children that were being born. Fishlegs and Snotlout each had a little boy. The boys were only six months old, as they were surprisingly born in the same month. But Aneira was very tiny, and was extremely small for a three month old child.

"You can, I'll stay home with her." Astrid looked back down to Aneira, stroking her small arm with her fingers. Children this age were supposed to be fatter, but Aneira was more skinny. She had bright blue eyes that shone like Astrid's, and her hair was darker, like Hiccup's. She was a beautiful child.

Hiccup slowly and carefully stroked Aneira's small hand, his other hand on Astrid's waist. "No, I will stay here with you." Hiccup said, making Astrid smile up to him. She stepped forward and placed Aneira in a small, wooden box filled with blankets. Luckily it was summer, so it was warm. But the little girl still needed blankets, she was smaller, so she got colder. Astrid pulled the blankets up and over Aneira, covering her up to her collar bones. She smiled down at the child, turned, and looked up at Hiccup.

"Then we should get some rest." Astrid sighed, reaching her arms up and lacing them around his shoulders. Hiccup's hand slipped around Astrid's waist, holding her against him and swaying lightly as she rested her head against his chest. She should feel the coolness of the night pouring in through the window and the wind blowing her hair so it wrapped around her and Hiccup. Her hair had grown longer, now it reached just above her tailbone.

"Alright." Hiccup sighed, taking one last glance at the sleeping child before he lifted Astrid up into his arms and carried her off to bed. Astrid was not feeling well, she hadn't been for the past three months. After Aneira's birth, she hadn't felt the greatest, so she wasn't allowed to leave the house, for she might become more sick. Hiccup had only left her alone to get her things, or to do his daily job as chief. But other than that, he never left Astrid's side, no matter what.

"Hiccup." Astrid whispered as Hiccup set her down onto their bed, pulling the blanket up to her shoulders. For the past three months, he had slept on the small couch downstairs because Astrid hadn't been feeling well. They hadn't slept together, or even in the same room, for three entire months. Hiccup knelt down beside the bed and looked at Astrid, he reached his hand up and stroked her head, brushing her hair out of her eyes and moving it behind her ears.

"I'll be downstairs if you need me." Hiccup smiled and leaned over, kissing Astrid on her forehead, and stood up. Her turned to leave but he felt Astrid's small hand firmly grab his wrist and stop him from leaving. He turned his head and looked at her, frowning, confused. "Yes?" He said quietly as Astrid's hand slipped from his wrist. She stared up at him with her big, bright, blue eyes.

"Stay." She said, so quietly that Hiccup almost didn't hear it. But he did, and he smiled down at her. He stepped back around to the other side of the bed, and slipped into it, underneath the blankets with Astrid. He could feel her body beside him, and she was cold, very cold. He reached his hand over to place it on her waist, and he slowly and carefully slid over towards her. Astrid turned around, facing Hiccup now, and looked into his eyes, she smiled.

"I'm cold." She whispered. Hiccup nodded and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her impossibly close to him. They couldn't come any closer, not even if they tried, they were already as close as they could get. Their legs were tangled with each other and their chests were pressed together firmly. Hiccup placed one hand on Astrid's back, and the other was underneath her, on her hip. Astrid's hands were pressed against Hiccup's chest, feeling the muscles as they tensed when he moved. They breathed together, until Astrid fell asleep against hiccup's chest. Hiccup fell asleep not long after, pressed against Astrid. He was taking in her scent, because he hadn't slept by her side for three months, and as he said.

Three months away from the ones you love does thing to people.


	7. Our Baby Aneira Is Growing Up

Thirteen Years Later

Astrid sat at the table in the middle of the kitchen, her hair pulled back in a braid that strung down her left shoulder. It was tied up with a small leather band that had little beads lining it. Her bangs here now swooped across her forehead to the left side. Her blue eyes slid from the empty plate in front of her to the chair across from her. She frowned, there was a plate with picked-at food.

"Aneira." She muttered angrily as she stared at the girl that was sitting in the chair across from her. The girl looked up at Astrid with her big, blue eyes, her wavy brown hair was let down and hanging around her shoulders and in her eyes. Astrid frowned and cocked her head. "Eat your dinner." She said, raising her eyebrows as the small girl looked up to Astrid. Aneira had grown up a lot, she was now 13, almost 14, but she was different. When she was a baby, her parents had thought she had had something wrong because she was extremely small for a three month old child. They were right, she was small for her age. Even now, she was smaller than the other Vikings. Astrid had said that Aneira looked like Hiccup, her father, when he was her age, and that she would grow up stronger. But Aneira didn't care what her parents said, she wanted to be like the other Viking teens, she wanted to be able to train like they did. But she also didn't see the point in training if there wasn't anything to fight. She had been told about her parents past, and she loved the story, but she still didn't know why they needed to train for anything if they were going to fight. Aneira, though, was more interested in creating things. She drew any contraption that she thought of, no matter the time. Her grandfather, Stoick, told her that she was like Hiccup when he was her age. Drawing and creating, and she liked that she was like her father, it made her feel like she belonged in her family. But Aneira wanted to belong more, not only in her family, but she wanted to belong with the other Viking teens. She only had one problem.

She hadn't found her dragon yet.

"I'm not hungry." Aneira said, staring back at her mother, only proceeding to look back down at the sketch book she had in her lap and begin to draw again. Astrid was about to stand up but she turned her head to the side when someone burst through the doors. Aneira's head stayed down, staring at her book, sketching any type of dragons she could. She was an extremely amazing artist, and could draw anything so that it looked realistic. She loved to draw the dragons that the village had because they were the easiest to draw. But she also loved to draw the people she knew. As she slid her charcoal pencil along the page in a long, light line, the book was snatched from her hands and her pencil clattered to the floor. She gasped and turned her head to see Hiccup sitting down in the chair beside her with her sketch book, staring at the pages of her book.

"Dad!" She whined, getting to her feet and reaching across the table to grab the book from Hiccup's hands. Hiccup smiled and flicked his hand out, grabbing Aneira's hands and holding them together, placing them on the table so that she couldn't move. Aneira grunted. "Giving it back!" She screamed, struggling to get her hands out of her father's grip, but he was too strong. She swung her gaze to her mom, whining. "Mom?" She said, watching as Astrid smiled at her and shrugged, standing and turning to place her plate into the sink. Aneira grunted and looked back to her dad, who seemed fascinated by her drawings. She rolled her eyes and let her head fall onto her dad's hand holding hers, giving up.

"Us." Hiccup said to himself, but Aneira heard and lifted her head to look at her father. She frowned and looked at the drawing he was staring at with amusement. It was the drawing she had been working on moments ago. It was a drawing of Toothless and Stormfly sitting on either side of the page. Her parents stood before their dragons, smiling. And Aneira stood in the middle, a smile strewn across her face, crossing her arms, with no dragon behind her.

"Aw," Aneira groaned. "Dad, come on. Do you have to go through my stuff." She sighed, raising one eyebrow and whining as her dad raised his eyebrows. She could see the gap between his teeth as he spoke, she had the same thing in her teeth. Everyone said she looked like her father the most, but she didn't see any resemblance between her and either of her parents.

"Annie, this is absolutely amazing." Hiccup said, eyeing the drawing. He was right, the drawing was amazing. Aneira was extremely talented. But the girl just rolled her eyes.

"Dad!" She complained, pulling her thin wrists out of her father's grip and snatching the book from his hands. Astrid returned from putting her plate away and set a plate of food down for Hiccup. Hiccup looked up at her and kissed her on the cheek before they smiled and Astrid went up the stairs to get ready for bed. "Please don't call me Annie." She muttered picking up her charcoal pencil from the floor and continuing her drawing.

"But that's your name." He said, grinning as he began to eat the food that Astrid put in front of him. "Isn't it?" He grinned guiltily.

"No," Aneira said to him, closing her book and putting it into her fur vest pocket. "It's not." She muttered.

"Fine, Aneira." Hiccup exaggerated her name as he spoke it. "Why don't you wear skirts like the other girls?" He said, gesturing to her brown pants that only reached just beneath her knees. They were tied with leather straps so they stayed against her thin legs. She wore a light brown tunic with a brown fur vest. It was extremely similar to what Hiccup wore when he was younger. Aneira glanced up at her father! raising an eyebrow at him.

"I don't see you wearing a skirt." She spat, glaring at Hiccup. Hiccup rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Yeah," he said cheerfully. "But I'm not a girl. You should wear a skirt, like your mother." Hiccup nodded his head towards the stairs to where Astrid had just gone into their bedroom.

"Just because the other girls wear a skirt, doesn't mean I should." Aneira pushed her chair back and stood up, pushing her plate away from her and turning to walk up the stairs. Hiccup rolled his eyes, got to his feet, and rushed towards her before she could reach the stairs. He quickly grabbed the back of Aneira's fur vest and a little bit of her tunic, and lifted her straight off of the ground. Aneira's book and pencil fell to the ground, falling away from her as her father planted her on the ground to stand in front of him.

"What has been up with you, lately?" Hiccup frowned down at his daughter shrugging as he shook his head. He watched as his daughter folded her arms across her chest and huffed, breathing out and blowing a piece of wavy, brown hair out of her eyes. Hiccup frowned and leaned down, grabbing the charcoal pencil and sketch book from the ground. He lifted it up and showed it to Aneira. "This," he said. "Is mine until you tell me what is going on." He say Aneira's eyes go wide as she dropped her hands to her side, she was about to protest, but stopped herself, staring up at her dad.

"I don't want to be different." She muttered, but Hiccup heard it and raised his eyebrows. He cocked his head to the side.

"You're not different." He said, shaking his head. He gestured to himself. "I was just like you when I was a child. I was different." He said, his voice clearer and softer than it was before. He knelt down, putting the book and pencil down, and placed his hands on Aneira's shoulders, staring into her blue eyes.

"Yeah, but look how you turned out. Everyone loves you now." Aneira looked to her left, staring out the window. "No one will ever love me." Hiccup sighed, shaking his head as he slightly shook Aneira's shoulders.

"Someone will love you, just like I love your mother." He smiled at her, bringing her in for a hug, but Aneira pushed him away.

"Dad," she began, shaking her head. "There's only two other boys and three other girls my age on this entire island!" She said, flinging her hands into the air, still looking out the window. "They're the cool ones, those girls can fight! They can do things I can't." She sighed, turning back to her father. "And you!" She raised her eyebrows. "You trained dragons for Thor's sake! That's what got mom to like you!"

"If you think that that is the reason that your mother loves me," he said in a rough tone, standing back up so he stared down at his daughter. "Than you are terribly wrong."

"I don't even have a dragon!" She yelled at her father. Astrid rushed down the stairs, stopping at the bottom and staring at the two of them. She wore a night dress made of a soft, velvety silk that Ruffnut had made for her as a present. It reached just above her ankles and was good for winter and summer.

"Aneira!" Astrid yelled angrily, walking towards her daughter and husband. "I told you, you will get your dragon when you do. You can't just take any dragon. You will find one, I promise." She smiled at her daughter, who had snatched the book and pencil from the ground. There were tears on the 14 year olds eyes, and she ran up the stairs into her bedroom, slamming the door. Astrid turned to Hiccup, who was shaking his head and looking at Astrid.

"She's right." He stepped forward, lacing his arm around Astrid's waist and walking her up the stairs. When they reached the bedroom, Astrid sat on the bed.

"How so?" She said as Hiccup removed his clothes and armour from the day and put his night pants on. He normally didn't put a shirt on, but had to in the morning because Aneira didn't like when he didn't wear a shirt. Astrid pulled up the blanket over her and leaned on her hand and elbow. She looked at Hiccup as he snuggled into the bed beside her.

"She needs to find a dragon, she's the only only one in the village who doesn't have one. Each of the other teens have one." He sighed, pulling Astrid closer to him as she looked at him with her big, blue eyes. They were the exact same as Aneira's eyes.

"Yeah, but she's not like the other teens." Astrid buried her head into Hiccup's chest, they both sighed and closed their eyes. Astrid almost instantly fell asleep as she lay against Hiccup.

"Exactly." Hiccup's whisper trailed off into the night as they both fell asleep.

The Next Morning

Aneira wobbled down the stairs, yawning, and waddled over to sit at the table. She looked across the table at her mother sitting there, sipping a small cup of water. Aneira grabbed a cup and poured herself some water, gulping down the whole thing.

"Wow." Astrid laughed, looking at her daughter. Aneira looked up and smiled at her mom. "Someone's thirsty."

"Why are you so cheery?" Aneira frowned, smiling at her mom. She knew when her mom was hiding something, and that would be now. Astrid leaned onto the table, smiling at Aneira.

"Today, all of the teens are going to train together, for fun, at the training arena." She said. Aneira shrugged, sipping another but of water. "And since your father and I are friends with all of their parents, you are going with them." Aneira's jaw dropped open and she stared at her mother, she slammed her glass down on the table and stood up.

"Mom!" She said, her eyebrows raised. "Why would I go with them? They don't even know me, let along like me." She gestured outside, pointing to the way the training arena is.

"They're heading over right now, so I'd get going." Hiccup came through the door, probably listening to their conversation as he entered, and gestured for Aneira to go outside. Aneira looked from her mother to her father, smiled, and rushed to the door. She ran down the stairs of the house and began down the path to the training arena. "Told you it would be easy." Hiccup smiled at Astrid as he closed the door behind Aneira. He walked over to his wife and kissed her on the forehead, sitting beside her to begin his breakfast. "And she didn't even eat."

Aneira, walking down the path to the training arena, pulled out her sketch book and began to continue the sketch of her family. She seemed to not be able to get her hair right, but everything else seemed to fall in place perfectly.

Someone else laughing startled Aneira and she fumbled with her sketch book and dropped it. It fell to the side, and Aneira knelt down to reach and grab it, but she realized where it fell. It fell right in front of someone's feet. She pulled her hand back and tilted her head up to see who it was, her left eye was covered by her wavy, brown hair. Standing above her was a boy. He had a long sword in his left hand and in his other hand he held a large, circular shield against his side. He was looking down at her, smiling as Aneira quickly grabbed her sketch book and pencil and stood up. She hugged the book against her chest and stepped out of the way of the boy, who she saw was standing in front of another boy and three girls. They were all a little taller than Aneira, and all had large weapons like axes, shields and swords in their hands. Aneira shyly moved her hair out of her eyes and looked up at the other teenagers.

"What's this squirt doing here?" The other boy laughed from behind the boy in front of her. The three girls laughed with him, but the boy who stood in front of her didn't. He just smiled and looked at Aneira. He had light, sandy brown hair that just reached past his jawline and his eyes were a bright green. Aneira didn't smile back at him, because she didn't know what to do.

"Hey, you're the chief's kid, aren't you?" The boy said, nodding towards Aneira as he sheathed his sword. The other teens just stood there with smirks on their faces, but the girl on the right of the rest of the teens just frowned with her arms crossed as she held her axe.

"Yeah." Aneira looked up at him, still not smiling as she hugged her book tighter against her chest. The other teens stared at her with amazement, as if they hadn't seen anyone like her before.

"Yeah, Hiccup told us that you would tag along to train with us." The boy said. He was nice, Aneira though. The boy laughed. "My name's Echo, what's your name?" He smiled down at Aneira.

"Aneira." She said quietly, blinking one as she moved her gaze to the other teens behind Echo. The two girls on the left seemed to look a bit alike, they both had the same long, blonde hair and they both had freckles on the bridge of their nose. Also, their skin colour seemed to be the same light, pinky colour.

But the other girl had dark hair, almost black, and brown eyes. She looked tough, like she would start screaming or something.

"I'm Mayka," the girl on the right of the two look alike girls said forcefully, as if she were holding it back and she has to let it go. "And this is my cousin, Franka." She jerked her thumb to the shorter girl—Franka—beside her. Aneira slowly looked over to the other boy, who was glaring at her. She waited for him to state his name until he finally did after he got jabbed in the gut by Mayka.

"Jemini." He said, rubbing his ribs where Larka jammed her elbow. Echo rolled his eyes, smiling at his friends stupidity, and looked back to Aneira.

"I'm Flicka," the girl with the dark hair said to Aneira as she stepped forward.

"So," Echo nodded towards the training arena that they were headed to. "You coming to hang out with us? We don't really train on these days, we just play games and do whatever we want." He shrugged. "Sometimes we don't even stay in the training arena." Aneira just stared up at the teens as they loomed over her. She had thought she was short, but Jemini seemed to be almost her height, and the other three weren't much taller than her. She nodded in response to his question, and Flicka stepped forward to stand beside Echo.

"But when we do train," she paused, staring at Aneira. "What can you do?" She lifted the corner of her mouth in a snicker and raised an eyebrow. Her arms crossed over her chest as Aneira breathed inwards deeply.

"Nothing." She said quietly, Flicka frowned and leaned towards her, not hearing what she said, staring at her. "I said, nothing."

"So you can't throw and axe, protect yourself with a shield, battle with a sword?" Flicka frowned, her eyebrows furrowing as she continued to glare at Aneira. "Well," she spun around, staring at Echo and patting his shoulder. "Have fun training this one, Echy." Echo give her a confused look at she began to walk off towards the training centre.

"Flicka, don't call me that." He called after her as she waved him away with a swish of her hand and continued down the path. He rolled his eyes and turned back to Aneira, smiling. "Sorry," he said, pointing to Flicka. "She's a bit annoying." He grinned down at her as she clutched her book and pencil to her chest, her fur vest tickling her wrists.

"It's okay," Aneira said quietly, staring down at the ground, looking at her fur boots. "So," she looked up at Echo. "Who are your parents? I think my dad knows them." She said, smiling as she asked the question. Echo seemed to smile and close his eyes, slightly giggling as she asked that.

"Actually," he began, opening his eyes. "I moved to Berk about a month ago. My parents, um," he paused, reaching up and scratching the back of his head. "You could say they aren't around anymore. But that was a while ago, so I'm sorta over it." He looked at her. "Sorta." Aneira blushed, knowing then that she shouldn't have asked that. But Echo continued. "Flicka, well, her dad is Snotlout, I think he was your parent's friend." He said as he gestured the way Flicka walked, then he pointed back to Mayka and Franka, beginning to speak, but Mayka cut him off.

"My dad is Tuffnut." Mayka grinned and nodded her head, and Aneira realized that her and Franka both had horrible posture.

"My mom is Ruffnut." Franka grinned almost the same grin as her cousin, and she nudged Mayka in the side with her elbow. Almost just like the stories her parents had told her about the twins, they both tackled eachother to the ground. Aneira looked at them in shock, but she lightly giggled, remembering how she loved hearing her parent's stories about the past. Echo pointed behind him to Jemini and grinned at the boy, making Aneira look up at Jemini.

"Jemini's dad is Fishlegs, who, again, was a friend of your parents." Echo turned back to Aneira and grinned. "So, we should probably head down to the training arena. I'm sure Flicka is probably rage throwing her axe at a stone wall and making it stick." The four other teens snickered under their breath and Aneira's mouth twitched at the corner, turning into a small smile.

"How do you know that they were friends with my parents?" Aneira said, looking up at Echo. Echo raised an eyebrow and sighed, looking down at her. He tilted his head to where Flicka disappeared to, then back to Aneira.

"I, uh," Mayka smiled and nudged her cousin, whispering something to Franka about Echo being shy and not telling anyone. "I sorta live with Flicka. Her parents took me in when I came to Berk, and your father was the one who allowed me to live here." He shrugged. "It's no big deal, it's just that," He looked, again, to where Flicka left to. "Never mind." He looked back at the other teens and smiled, nodding his head towards the training centre. "Let's get going, today is a special day. We've got a new recruit for the training academy." Echo turned and started to jog down the path to the training academy, with Jemini on his heels and Franka running after them. But Mayka stayed behind with Aneira as Aneira watched the teens go quickly down the path. She stared in awe.

"I can't run that fast." She said, turning her head to look at Mayka. Mayka seemed to be smiling down the path, but she turned to look at Aneira as she spoke.

"I know, that' sway I'm sticking back with you. I normally get there the last, too." She shrugged and smiled at Aneira. Aneira's single thought in her head was: Maybe I will make some friends.

Once they arrived at the training arena, Aneira stumbled through the door, alongside Mayka, and saw the rest of the teens standing at the other end of the arena. She stopped, frozen in her tracks and her face flushed. All of the teens weren't just standing by them selves.

They were standing with their dragons.

Aneira, frozen in place in shock, stared at the rest of the teens, all of them hopping onto their dragons and scratching their scales. She was wondering if she should just leave now, or if she should stay here, and just watch them do whatever they are going to do with their dragons. But right as she made her decision, and was about to turn around to leave, she heard someone call her name. She spun around to see who it was.

"Aneira!" Echo called again, making Aneira blush. His voice was so smooth, but it was rough at the same time. "Come on!" He said, beckoning her over with a wave of his hand. She shook her head and looked around, sending a mental message that she didn't have a dragon. Echo's hand instantly dropped, and he seemed to frown. His head turned and he seemed to say something to the other teens, and the four others flew out on their dragons.

Aneira watched in amazement as Flicka flew above her riding a Monstrous Nightmare, Mayka and Franka rode a Hideous Zippleback together, and Jemini rode a Gronckle. Aneira smiled at the thought of children taking after their parents, but when she realized that Echo hadn't left yet, she turned back towards where he had stood before. Now he was right in front of her, sitting on top of his dark green Deadly Nadder. Dragons were beautiful creatures that fascinated Aneira, but sometimes they scared her.

She stepped backwards as Echo and his Nadder came towards her, the Nadder bending it's head towards Aneira. Echo smiled and patted the Nadder.

"This is Joz, he's a tough one, but he's got his soft spots." Echo said in a soft voice as the Nadder nuzzled it's head against Aneira. Aneira looked up at Echo as he smiled, and he reached his hand towards her. "Come on, you can ride with me for today." He said, grinning and reaching his hand out further, pushing her to take it. Aneira hesitated, but then she pocketed her book and pencil, and took Echo's hand. He instantly pulled her up so that she was sitting behind him, a little way away from him on the dragon saddle. She looked around, she had been on a dragon before, she had been on her parent's dragons. So she wasn't scared of riding a Nadder, because she rode Stormfly before, and she's ridden Toothless multiple times around Berk with her dad. "Hold on." Echo steadied himself on Joz and grinned, grabbing the front of the saddle. Aneira frowned.

"Hold on to what?" She said, confused and she raised an eyebrow as Echo turned around to look at her with a smile. He chuckled and shook his head with a grin, turning back to face forward as Joz began to walk forward, getting ready to take off.

"Me!" Echo said as Joz took off into the sky with a whoosh. Aneira didn't have any time to respond to Echo's word, let alone do what he told her to do. So she gripped tightly onto the back of the saddle, trying hard not to fall off as Echo tried to catch up with the other teens that were flying higher, above the clouds. She screamed, as she had never experienced going this fast on a dragon. Hiccup had asked her multiple times if she had wanted to go fast, but she never did, so they stayed at a steady pace the whole time, even with Astrid. Aneira caught a last glimpse of Echo smiling back at her before he pulled back and Joz soared upwards, vertically into the clouds. Aneira screamed as she was flung off of the saddle, and she flew off of Joz. Hiccup had told her that if she ever fell off of a dragon, to keep everything straight, even if you may die.

Thanks, dad, for telling me I could die! She had thought, but instead of panicking, she smiled and straightened up, closing her eyes and falling head first towards the ground. Luckily, they had gotten really high up, so she had a long way to fall.

A squeal escaped her mouth as she felt herself being grabbed by something, and she opened her eyes, looking up. Above her was Echo, and he was smiling a goofy grin that made Aneira smile too. One of his hands was holding her back, and the other was under her knees. He had caught her before she had even passed the clouds, before she had killed herself. Echo shook his head and lifted one of his hands to grab the saddle, steadying them. He dropped her legs and let them lay across his lap as his other hand still gripped her back and shoulder, hugging her against him. Aneira smiled up at him, frowning as well.

"What were you doing? You seemed pretty comfortable with the fact that you could have killed yourself." Echo grinned and chuckled as he led Joz to fly closer to the others. Aneira shrugged and shook her heard smiling.

"My dad taught me how to fly solo, he said to act as if someone was going to come and rescue you." She looked forward, spotting the others flying around each other and shooting playful fire lines at one another. Echo grinned down at her and sighed.

"Well, aren't you just so lucky that I saved your life." Echo said as Aneira giggled. He grabbed her by the waist and swung her around to sit behind him on the saddle again, this time, sitting differently.

This time, Aneira wrapped her arms around his middle.


End file.
